Republican former US Sen. David Perdue introduced Monday he’ll run for Georgia governor, establishing a bitter major battle towards incumbent Brian Kemp.
“To battle again, we merely must be united,” Perdue mentioned in a video announcing his campaign. “Look, I like Brian. This isn’t private. It’s easy: He has failed all of us and can’t win in November.”
Perdue added that he was getting into the race to “be certain that [Democrat] Stacey Abrams isn’t the governor of Georgia.”
“Make no mistake, Abrams will smile, lie and cheat to rework Georgia into her radical imaginative and prescient of a state that may look extra like California or New York,” he mentioned, later including: “Over my lifeless physique will we ever give Stacey Abrams management of our elections once more.”
Abrams, who misplaced to Kemp within the 2018 gubernatorial race however has refused to concede defeat, announced last week that she would run for governor a second time.
Whereas Kemp as soon as loved near-unanimous Republican assist within the Peach State, he has fallen out of favor with former President Donald Trump by refusing to countenance the latter’s claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.
In a press release Monday, Trump referred to as Perdue “an important Senator” who “really loves his State and his Nation” whereas dismissing Kemp as a “RINO,” or Republican in title solely.
“This shall be very fascinating, and I can’t think about that Brian Kemp, who has harm election integrity in Georgia so badly, can do effectively on the poll field (until the election is rigged, in fact),” Trump added. “He price us two Senate seats and a Presidential victory within the Nice State of Georgia.”
In September, Trump suggested Abrams would have been doing a greater job as governor than Kemp — whom he known as a “catastrophe” — had she been elected.
“Stacey — would you wish to take his place? It’s OK with me,” Trump mentioned of Kemp throughout a rally on the Georgia State Fairgrounds.
“We don’t need her!” somebody within the crowd yelled.
Trump later took one other dig at Kemp, saying, “In fact, having her [Abrams], I feel, may be higher than having your current governor, if you wish to know the reality. May very effectively be higher.”
Perdue served one time period within the Senate earlier than he was defeated by Democrat Jon Ossoff in a runoff election earlier this yr. He initially filed paperwork in February to problem Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) — who edged out GOP incumbent Kelly Loeffler in a particular election — in 2022, however reversed that call days later.
In his announcement, Perdue blamed Kemp for Trump’s 2020 loss in addition to his and Loeffler’s defeats months later, with a spokesperson pointing to a settlement settlement that Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and the State Election Board made with the state Democratic Celebration in March 2020 during which the state agreed to set uniform requirements for analyzing signatures on mail-in absentee ballots. Kemp was not a celebration to the lawsuit.
“Take into consideration how totally different it will be if Kemp had fought Abrams first earlier than the election as an alternative of combating Trump,” Perdue mentioned. “Kemp caved earlier than the election and the nation is paying the worth right now.”
Kemp spokesperson Cody Corridor blasted Perdue in a press release, accusing him of working solely to “soothe his personal bruised ego” over dropping his Senate seat.
“The person who misplaced Republicans america Senate and introduced the final yr of skyrocketing inflation, open borders, runaway authorities spending, and woke cancel tradition upon the American folks now needs to lose the Georgia governor’s workplace to the nationwide face of the unconventional left motion,” Corridor mentioned.
With Publish wires
