About two dozen Republican Georgia state senators gathered in the state Capitol’s second-floor lobby on Thursday, still bleary-eyed from the previous night’s legislative chaos.
They weren’t there to rehash the clamorous finale of the legislative session. They were enthusiastic attendees of a closed-door meeting with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, the presumptive presidential contender in town for a stop on his book tour.
Not long ago, it might have been inconceivable for prominent Georgia Republicans to so eagerly court an alternative to former President Donald Trump. Local parties frequently purged themselves of “never Trump” members, and many elected officials would only dare criticize him privately.
