I’m sure most of you have seen the Star Trek episode, The Arena, when Captain Kirk beams down to a planet to battle a reptilian creature to save the Enterprise? You are going to see an even more ridiculous gladiatorial combat when Brian Kemp and David Perdue go into combat. Kemp had the field sewed up until Sunday afternoon when Purdue broke the news that he was running for Governor of Georgia in 2022. Kemp had kept Purdue out of the race but evidently Perdue believes he will get Donald Trump’s endorsement and he is probably right. Kemp and Perdue will then duke it out for the Republican nomination and watching them destroy one another will be classic. Lay in the snacks and the brewskies, this is going to be epic. Atlanta Constitution-Journal:
Perdue’s decision is expected to be delivered Monday and comes days after Abrams, an icon to many Democrats, announced she would run for governor for a second time. Perdue has told allies he was motivated to join the race because he fears Kemp can’t defeat the Democrat again.
His campaign will deepen a divide in the state GOP stoked by former President Donald Trump, who is expected to support Perdue. That points to a difficult 2022 election for the party following huge losses in the last campaign cycle, when Democrats captured Georgia in a presidential race for the first time since 1992 and then flipped both of the state’s U.S. Senate seats in dual runoffs that decided control of the chamber.
”Perdue’s only reason for running is to sooth his own bruised ego, because his campaign for U.S Senate failed to inspire voters at the ballot box — twice,” said Kemp spokesman Cody Hall, giving a taste of the brutal campaign to come.
Perdue was on the losing end of one of those races, falling to Democrat Jon Ossoff. While he ruled out a comeback bid against U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, he has weighed a challenge to Kemp for months.
Perdue has played into the speculation he would run for governor by appearing at a range of recent grassroots events. His allies have also leaked word of visits with Trump, including a recent two-day trip to Florida that involved a round of golf.
He seems assured, too, of winning Trump’s endorsement. The former president has publicly encouraged Perdue to run and recently warned the “MAGA base will just not vote” for Kemp.
And in interviews, Perdue has tried to promote himself as a “unifier” who can rally Trump loyalists more effectively than Kemp, who has been on the former president’s bad side since he refused demands to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in Georgia.
So watch the Unifier reptile go against the Establishment reptile, while the GOP icon himself, the Donald Dragon, sits there and blows fire and preens. This is going to be one hell of a show. I cannot wait. At the end we will see if the Georgia Republican establishment can hold itself together enough to survive an attack both within its own ranks and from Stacey Abrams.
Marjorie Taylor Greene says she’s the base not the fringe and since it’s her state, she’ll be chiming in. This is pure political circus.
As I sometimes say, take your entertainment where you can find it. This upcoming shit-show will provide a fair amount!
The ONLY reason why Kemp won the first time was his refusal to step aside from his duties as Secretary of State–the official who OVERSEES THE ELECTIONS–during his first run for Governor. Granted, Georgia law doesn’t require an official step aside from performing his current duties while running for another office, it usually does NOT entail a sitting Secretary of State running for another office. Kemp’s predecessor as Governor was Nathan Deal who was a member of the US House of Representatives when he chose to run for Governor. Prior to Deal was Sonny Perdue who was serving in the Georgia Senate when he ran for Governor. Prior to Perdue was Roy Barnes (the last Democrat to serve as Governor) who’d been a member of the Georgia House of Representatives when he ran for Governor. Before Barnes was Zell “Turncoat” Miller who’d been Lieutenant Governor (for 16 years) before he ran for Governor (the “turncoat” refers to his decision to support Dubya in 2004 even as he was serving as a Democrat in the US Senate).
As noted, Kemp was under no obligation to step aside but the MORAL thing to do was to have stepped aside and let one of his subordinates oversee EVERYTHING connected to the election just to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest. Then again, Kemp’s a Republican and GOPers believe they have a right to do as they wish; if Stacey Abrams had been the Secretary of State when she chose to run for the Governor’s office, you can damn well be sure that the GOP-dominated Legislature would’ve passed a law stripping her of ANY official duties while running for Governor. (The Legislature COULD have done something to restrict Kemp from overseeing anything connected with the elections–there was some chatter about it being inappropriate during the primary but it was quickly hushed as soon as he became the GOP candidate.)