Source: Politics<\/p>\n
Donald Trump never wastes an opportunity to attack Georgia\u2019s top statewide Republican officeholders for failing to help him overturn the 2020 election results in the key swing state. <\/p>\n
Brad Raffensperger is the only one who refuses to shut up and take it. <\/p>\n
Raffensperger, who has borne the brunt of Trump\u2019s wrath as the top election official in the state, is running a damn-the-torpedoes reelection campaign that directly confronts the former president \u2014 even though it could cost him the GOP nomination.<\/p>\n
In a party where Trump\u2019s enemies tend to see their political careers abruptly ended, Raffensperger\u2019s approach is being closely watched by Republicans within the state and outside.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe last internal poll I saw said that 87 percent of Republican primary voters felt like the election was stolen,\u201d said former Republican Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.). \u201cWith those kinds of numbers, I don\u2019t see Brad getting through the primary.\u201d<\/p>\n
If Raffensperger isn\u2019t Trump\u2019s top GOP nemesis, he\u2019s close to it. The Georgia secretary of state refused Trump\u2019s requests to alter the state\u2019s vote count and feuded with the former president over Trump\u2019s baseless claims of widespread voter fraud. At one point, Raffensperger\u2019s office secretly recorded<\/a> Trump trying to persuade the secretary of state to \u201cfind\u201d votes to make him the winner \u2014 a potential crime by Trump that local prosecutors are now investigating.<\/p>\n As a result, Trump has showered him with criticism for nearly a year, going so far as to call Raffensperger an \u201cenemy of the people.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump\u2018s obsession with Raffensperger shows no sign of fading. In July, the former president sent him a letter asking yet again to decertify the results of the 2020 election. As recently as two weeks ago, during a Georgia rally, Trump called Raffensperger \u201cincompetent and strange.\u201c<\/p>\n When Rep. Jody Hice (R-Ga.) \u2014 a staunch Trump ally \u2014 announced earlier this year he\u2019d challenge Raffensperger in the primary, Trump immediately endorsed him.<\/p>\n Trump also had Hice give brief remarks at the September rally where the former president also trashed Gov. Brian Kemp, Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan and state Attorney General Chris Carr \u2014 all Republicans who rebuffed Trump\u2019s calls to overturn the election results.<\/p>\n Duncan, who has been critical of Trump, decided against running for another term and instead wrote a book about the future of the party<\/a>. Kemp and Carr are seeking reelection next year along with Raffensperger, but have largely ignored the president\u2019s attacks.<\/p>\n Raffensperger has taken a different tack. <\/p>\n After Trump used his rally to mock-endorse Democrat Stacey Abrams \u2014 who is expected to mount her second campaign for Georgia governor after refusing to formally concede<\/a> her last race for the office three years ago \u2014 Raffensperger wrote a USA Today op-ed<\/a> comparing Trump to Abrams.<\/p>\n Next month he\u2019ll publish a book<\/a> called \u201cIntegrity Counts<\/a>,\u201d billed by Simon & Schuster as Raffensperger\u2019s \u201cinspiring story of commitment to the integrity of American democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re out there setting the record straight. No. 1 is that President Trump did not carry the state of Georgia,\u201d Raffensperger told POLITICO, pointing to multiple recounts, reviews and investigations that confirmed the accuracy of the Georgia results.<\/p>\n Seth Bringman, a spokesperson for Abrams, swiped at Raffensperger for comparing her 2018 loss to Trump\u2019s, saying that \u201cAbrams succeeded in court to count more Georgians\u2019 votes, with reputable attorneys presenting coherent arguments, and the courts agreed and counted those votes. It surprises us that Raffensperger equates counting eligible votes based on fact with throwing out the will of the people based on the Big Lie.\u201d<\/p>\n Raffensperger\u2019s op-ed, Bringman said, amounts to \u201cattacking Stacey and pushing election subversion in a sad attempt to win the votes of the insurrectionist wing in his upcoming primary.\u201d<\/p>\n Raffensperger\u2019s frontal assault on Trump is widely viewed as a doomed strategy in a state where Trump dominates the GOP and majorities of Republicans believe the 2020 election was stolen \u2014 a January poll showed<\/a> only 45 percent of Republicans supported the secretary of state.<\/p>\n