A blow to former US President Donald Trump, who suffered two major defeats in the Republican Party primaries in the state of Georgia on Tuesday evening.
The current governor, Brian Kemp, attacked relentlessly since 2020 for not having adhered to the conspiracy theory of the theft of the elections promoted by the fallen billionaire, crushed his opponent, the ex-senator David Perdue, dubbed by Mr. Trump , collecting more than three quarters of the votes cast.
Donald Trump’s colt’s campaign has been characterized by the obsessive repetition of the lie that the 2020 presidential poll handed victory to Joe Biden due to unproven voter fraud.
Georgia’s Secretary of State, Republican Brad Raffensperger, also slapped the former White House occupant by confirming his candidacy for the upcoming midterm elections. He collected more than 50% of the vote against his opponent, Representative Jody Hice, passionately supported by Donald Trump to bring down a strong figure in opposition to his theory of electoral fraud.
We remember: Brad Raffensperger resisted pressure from the ex-president who, in the wake of his defeat in 2020, sought from this elected official a way to invalidate the result of the vote, and this, to resume illegally Georgia, fallen by a slim majority of 0.23% into the hands of Democrat Joe Biden.
In a phone call made in January 2021, four days before the Capitol attack, the former reality TV star asked the Secretary of State to “find” 11,780 votes in his favour, which the man refused to do so, incurring the wrath of the populist. The call recorded by Raffensperger was revealed by the washington post and mentioned during the second impeachment proceedings launched against the ex-president, after the attack on the seat of the American legislative power by his supporters, on January 6, 2021.
Call for caution
Donald Trump’s enterprise, which aims to eradicate from the electoral landscape his opponents within the Republican Party itself, is a total failure in Georgia. State Attorney General Chris Carr, the third populist pet peeve in the southern state, won the primaries against candidate John Gordon, who also campaigned on the fallacy of massive voter fraud. put forward by the former president.
Tuesday evening, on TwitterRepublican Chris Christie, ex-governor of New Jersey and ex-adviser to Trump, hailed the victory of Brian Kemp, and especially the gesture made by the voters of Georgia who, according to him, resisted the festival of ” vengeance” launched by Donald Trump across the country.
“The victories of Kemp and Raffensperger go to show that Trump’s role as kingmaker is not unlimited nationwide,” said political scientist Simon Gilhooley, a professor at Card College in the state, in an interview. from New York. But you have to be careful. If his support for a candidate was not enough here in the choice of the winner, his influence does not dissipate for all that, and taking an oath of allegiance to the ex-president can still be electorally profitable. »
Representative of Georgia Marjorie Taylor Greene, spokesperson for the populist but also an American figure in the conspiratorial movements, demonstrated this on Tuesday evening by avoiding defeat, in front of several less radical candidates who hoped to prevent her from running again next November. .
“Trump’s support works much better on candidates who are less well known, which was not the case here, analyzes for his part Scott H. Ainsworth, director of the Department of Political Science at the University of Georgia, joined by The duty in Athens, in this southern state. But overall, Tuesday’s votes indicate that the effect of the 2020 election is fading with the electorate, although it appears to be fading more slowly among Donald Trump supporters. »
Foreground Duel
In light of Tuesday night’s results, Gov. Brian Kemp is now preparing to square off with Democrat Stacy Abrams next November in a rematch after their first face-off in 2018.
“Even in the midst of a tough primary, our state’s conservatives haven’t listened to the noise,” the state governor said during his victory speech to the crowd at the College Football Hall of Fame in Washington. ‘Atlanta. “But I want to be perfectly clear with all of you here tonight: our battle is far from over. Tonight the fight for the soul of our state begins, to ensure that Stacey Abrams does not become our Governor or the next President. »
During her defeat in 2018, the Democrat accused her opponent of having adopted a set of laws aimed at limiting access to the polls to the African-American population of Georgia. She later became a fervent activist for equal access to the vote and a fierce opponent of the discriminatory measures adopted by the Republicans. The redrawing of electoral maps to dilute the Democratic vote in several counties and the removal of voters registered on the electoral lists are part of it.
Overall, Tuesday’s votes indicate the effect of the 2020 election is fading with the electorate
The campaigns of M.me Abrams have made it possible to further mobilize the African-American vote in the 2020 presidential election. A trend from which it could benefit next November.
“It is still too early to predict the outcome of the election, says Simon Gilhooley, but the polls reveal a high number of undecided people who could tip the scales in favor of Stacey Abrams. »
Republican stronghold, Georgia has become a state where the struggle has tightened due to its demographic evolution. “The midterm elections are going to be difficult for both parties,” continues the political scientist, and all eyes will certainly be on this key state next November.