Republican voters on Tuesday (24.05.2022) rejected Donald Trump’s “Big Lie” that the 2020 US election was rigged, backing Georgia Governor Brian Kemp for re-election by a wide margin over a pro-Government candidate. former president.
Trump had poured much of his own political capital into the personal pick of David Perdue to defeat Kemp in the nomination to run for Georgia governor in November’s midterm elections. Perdue had made Trump’s claims about 2020 a centerpiece of his campaign, in a direct appeal to supporters of his mentor, who continues to question the validity of the presidential result won by Democrat Joe Biden.
But the former senator was forced to admit defeat, in an embarrassing blow to Trump as the initial tally showed him trailing by nearly 50 points less than 90 minutes after polls closed.
Kemp, the target of Trump’s wrath for refusing to help nullify the election, was expected to win, but the margin of his victory represents a harsh rebuke to the former president in a state where he narrowly lost in 2020.
Another denier defeated
Another Trump-backed 2020 election denier, John Gordon, also lost to Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr.
Four other states, Minnesota, Alabama, Arkansas and Texas, also go to the polls on Tuesday ahead of the November election, which will determine which party controls the Senate and House of Representatives for the remainder of President Joe Biden’s term.
But all eyes were on Georgia, where the wounds of the 2020 presidential election continue to fester two years after Biden won the state by fewer than 12,000 votes.
jc (ap, afp)