Democrats in Georgia who participated in the Republican primary voting last week were a key factor in Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger’s victory over former President Trump’s preferred candidate for the nomination.
NEW: Trump is reportedly “stunned” that Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger won the GOP primary last week despite Trump’s vigorous opposition— a new analysis of the results shows Democrats voting in the Republican primary were decisive in making Raffensperger win. (@AP)
— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) May 31, 2022
High Turnout Rates
An evaluation of early voting records by the Associated Press found over 37,000 people who voted in the state’s Democratic primary in 2020 also voted in the Republican primary.
This resulted in the defeat of many of Trump’s hand-picked aspirants.
This information was gleaned from the records of early voting. Raffensberger, who was facing a primary fight from Trump-backed Rep. Jody Hice, avoided a runoff election by around 27,000 votes.
In the Republican primary for secretary of state, Raffensperger prevailed over Hice with 52 percent of the vote to Hice’s 34 percent.
Some Democrats are voting in Republican primaries to block Donald Trump's preferred candidates. That likely helped Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger win his primary, an @AP analysis found. https://t.co/355Bn23wML
— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) May 31, 2022
The number of crossover votes was exceptionally large.
Still, it was not enough to prevent Gov. Brian Kemp from securing a decisive victory over Sen. David Perdue, the candidate who had been endorsed by Trump.
According to some on Raffensberger’s side, the Republicans, not the Democrats, renominated him for the seat.
Campaign strategist Jordan Fuchs told reporters it is “obvious that Brad Raffensperger won a plurality of the conservative vote here in the state of Georgia”
Fuchs also stated, “there are folks who stopped engaging in the Republican race after 2016 who are now re-engaged.”
“Don’t let the Democrats do what they tried in another region last week,” President Trump urged his backers in Wyoming over the weekend.
Trump indicated he was dissatisfied with the effort to oust his candidates from power by leveraging Democratic votes.
Efforts By Republicans
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) led efforts to defeat Trump-backed aspirants through his organization, Country First.
This is a coalition of Never Trump supporters from across the political spectrum. Kinzinger encouraged Democratic voters to participate in Republican primaries.
They sent potential voters flyers and text messages asking them to vote against Trump’s contenders in various elections across the country.
Kinzinger indicated to the Associated Press they intend to implement the same tactic in the states of Michigan, Wyoming, and Alaska.
The people who backed Trump in this election cycle have been all over the place. His choice for the Senate seat in Georgia, Herschel Walker, won the nomination with ease, as did the majority of his representatives in the House.
Raffensperger is now in a race for reelection in November vs. a Democratic opponent who has not yet risen from a close primary election; the votes are still being tabulated and evaluated at this time.
It is intriguing to see the length at which Democrats will go to embarrass the former president.
His kingmaker status is already being called to question; now, all eyes turn to November to await the final results of this year’s midterms.
