Disgraced, twice-impeached, former "president" Donald Trump has initiated a campaign against "disloyal" Republicans that has set off GOP worries around the country over its potential to divide, weaken, and radicalize the party. Nowhere has the dynamic played out more openly than in Georgia.
Former Republican Senator David Purdue, a Trump loyalist, is now challenging current Governor Brian Kemp's reelection in 2022. Kemp, a Republican, famously refused to overturn the Georgia presidential election results or send "alternate" electors to certify the vote.
It's now been revealed that 25 of the state Senate's 34 Republicans quietly sent Perdue a letter last month asking him not to run. In the letter, the Senators told Perdue that he “made us proud" during his time in the U.S. Senate — but asked him to join them in endorsing Kemp for reelection.
There was so much concern about the letter becoming public that the senators refrained from sharing an electronic copy, circulating the text only in paper form.
When asked about the letter, Perdue acknowledged he’d received it but said it never affected his decision. "They think that endorsements among each other can elbow an outsider out of a race," he said. “People who vote don’t care about that," he said. "You know, who cares about that? Career politicians." State Sen. John Albers, a signer, called the career politicians comment "concerning and wholly inaccurate. Most have been in office less than Perdue."
“We hold Senator Perdue in the highest regard and always will," said Republican Senate Majority Leader Mike Dugan, who also signed the letter. but "wish that he had responded to us in the same manner in which we originally engaged with him."
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