David Perdue Will He Run Again
(CNN)It'due south a refrain that former Sen. David Perdue has fabricated a centerpiece of his campaign for governor in Georgia.
"The election in 2020 was rigged and stolen," Perdue asserted at a recent argue.
Perdue'southward one-time Senate GOP colleagues, all the same, are less than impressed.
"It's cool," said Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, when asked nigh the remarks of Perdue, his former colleague. "I call back the effort to try and overturn an election when at that place is, at this phase, no testify of widespread fraud is detrimental to democracy and insulting to the American public."
"Hell yes," one of Perdue'south closest Senate friends told CNN when asked if he was surprised past his ex-colleague'southward entrada transformation.
"I don't know whether he believes it or not. I really don't," said Sen. Kevin Cramer, a North Dakota Republican. "But I'grand sure it'southward a political strategy."
Indeed, in his half dozen years in the Senate before losing his reelection bid last year, Perdue was a mainstream Senate Republican member, a business organization-minded conservative who usually voted with his party.
But Perdue appear his bid in December challenging Georgia GOP Gov. Brian Kemp, blaming Kemp for his and and so-Sen. Kelly Loeffler's losses, which cost Republicans the Senate, by arguing that the governor did not do plenty to overturn the results.
Onetime President Donald Trump, who has relentlessly attacked Kemp for his loss in Georgia, endorsed Perdue, falsely asserting that Kemp "allowed massive election fraud to take place."
Many of Perdue'due south colleagues believe there'due south ane reason why he has changed his melody.
"My assumption is that when he was persuaded to run, that was role of the conversation," Due south Dakota Sen. John Thune, the No. 2 Senate Republican, said when asked nigh Perdue's claims. "Only it doesn't sound like it's working very well -- at to the lowest degree right now."
Perdue'due south candidacy underscores the dilemma facing Republicans as they endeavor to position themselves for the fall elections. Many candidates like Perdue are eager for the Trump endorsement, willing to echo his false claims nigh 2020 in lodge to become the backing of his fervent supporters. Withal others say harping on the past is a recipe to trip up their chances at a fourth dimension when the political surroundings is rich for the GOP.
"I retrieve it's amend to ask: 'Do y'all think voters want to look to the future or look to the past?" Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican, said in an interview. "And the answer to that is self-axiomatic. They want solutions now."
"I do know him well," said West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito when asked about Perdue'south claims. "I obviously don't hold with that."
On Thursday, Loeffler was on Capitol Loma, lunching with Senate Republicans and discussing her efforts to engage voters in Georgia. Behind closed doors, Loeffler talked to senators near the Perdue and Kemp race, and told them that information technology appeared Kemp was on track to easily win outright and avoid a runoff, according to senators who spoke to her.
In a brief interview, Loeffler dodged a question about whether she agreed with Perdue's political strategy calling the 2020 election "rigged and stolen," telling CNN: "I'm totally focused on the voters. We got to make sure voters plough out the vote. And then, that's my number one priority."
Asked for comment near the Republican senators' mix of surprise virtually and criticism of their old colleague'southward decision to place the 2020 election at the center of his 2022 campaign, Jenni Sweat, Perdue'south campaign spokeswoman, said, "Cipher to share at this time."
Immediately later on jumping into the race, Perdue filed a lawsuit to shine a spotlight on Trump's fake claims, fifty-fifty though there were 3 separate counts of the results in Georgia and no evidence that fraud cost Trump or Perdue their elections.
Perdue's first and latest television set ads promote the lie that the elections were stolen. Trump has held rallies for Perdue in Georgia, hosted a fundraiser for him at his Florida resort Mar-a-Lago and aired ads bashing Kemp, saying he can't shell Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams. Trump called into a "tele-rally" with Perdue final week, as early voting began for the May 24 master.
Kemp's campaign has spent over $five.3 million on ads, compared to about $i.3 million for Perdue. But other Trump-aligned groups like Have Back Georgia and MAGA, Again! are trying to make full the gap.
Perdue has been hoping that Trump will assist propel him to victory. Only if he falls short, it would be a major blow to the old President in his entrada to boot out Republicans who don't marshal themselves with his 2020 election lies — and his status equally a kingmaker. After the primaries last Tuesday, Trump boasted that his candidates went 22-0. Only even Trump has appeared to recognize that Perdue could threaten that streak.
"Remember, you know, my tape is unblemished," Trump said in a recent interview with The New York Times. "The real story should exist on the endorsements — not the David Perdue one — and, by the way, no race is over."
In interviews with more than than a dozen Senate Republicans near the Georgia race, most said that their political party needs to stop talking about 2020 if they want to win back Congress in 2022 and rack up wins at the state level too.
"Well, I similar David but yous know if Kemp wins, information technology means that people looked at beyond 2020," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Due south Carolina Republican and shut Trump ally. "That's the just conclusion you lot tin can come to."
Sen. Joni Ernst, a Republican of Iowa, called Perdue a "smart man" and said "people respect him."
But when asked if Republicans should be talking nigh 2020 in this election year, Ernst pushed back, proverb it "merely makes us look like we're a party that looks to the past rather than the future."
Many of her colleagues meet it the aforementioned manner.
"(Perdue) and I would probably hold to disagree on that item upshot, and it's non the first time that I've had to agree to disagree with my friends and colleagues," said Sen. Mike Rounds, a Due south Dakota Republican. "We constitute no evidence that says that the election would have been overturned by what nosotros would have found in terms of problems within the election bike itself."
Others made clear that Republicans should not go along harping on 2020.
"I call back we have to look ahead," said Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican. "You know, the virtually important ballot is the next election, in my opinion. I'm only focused on November."
"The only election I'thou worried nigh is the 2022 ballot," said Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley when asked nigh Perdue'south comments. "And then I worry about the 2024 election subsequently that, and I'chiliad looking to the future."
Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, who like Grassley is up for reelection in 2022, said he hasn't "paid a lot of attention" to Georgia's governor race, saying "we got our hands full here" in the Senate. Pressed if he would be talking nigh 2020 on the campaign trail, Rubio said, "I'll be talking about the stuff I've worked on."
And Texas Sen. John Cornyn, a fellow member of GOP leadership, said he wasn't going to get involved in the governor's race when asked about Perdue's comments.
But he added: "I will tell you, I don't think the governor -- I think Joe Biden won the electoral college and was correctly confirmed as President."
And when asked if he's concerned about members of his party still espousing 2020 election lies, Romney deadpanned: "I stopped existence concerned near members of my party."
The reaction past many of Perdue'south one-time colleagues in the Senate appears to be reflected by the Georgia Republican electorate, according to public polling, which shows Kemp with a double-digit pb over Perdue. Even some of Perdue'southward former allies in Georgia have wondered why he decided to run against Kemp.
Eric Tanenblatt is supporting Kemp even though he helped raise money for Perdue'south concluding Senate campaign and served equally chief of staff to sometime Georgia Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue, the erstwhile senator'southward cousin. He said there is a "very good likelihood" that Kemp volition win the chief on May 24 with a majority of the votes, enough to avoid a runoff.
"I think the majority of Republican master voters think we need to get beyond the 2020 ballot," Tanenblatt said.
"I just remain baffled every bit to why David is doing this," he added. "He was a senator with a great record, represented the state well, and unfortunately, the affair nosotros're going to remember about him is at present not what he did in the Senate, but that he took on an incumbent Republican governor."
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/09/politics/david-perdue-senate-republican-reaction/index.html
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