Campaign Report — Trump’s rough night

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Trump candidates — and 2020 claims — lose big

Former President Trump had his roughest night of the midterm cycle so far Tuesday, when his chosen candidates in marquee primary races in Georgia — a state he fixated on after his 2020 loss there — fell far short against their opponents. 

In multiple contests, incumbents who had resisted Trump’s efforts to challenge the results of the 2020 presidential election held double-digit leads over candidates who built campaigns around the former president’s false claims. 

The biggest loss for Trump was in the state’s gubernatorial GOP primary, in which Gov. Brian Kemp bested former Sen. David Perdue, in whom Trump had invested significantly, by more than 50 points. 

Perdue centered much of his campaign around Trump’s unfounded claims that voter fraud cost him victory in Georgia in 2020 and that Kemp could have reversed the election results. Kemp, meanwhile, did not directly take on the former president and instead focused on pushing a slate of conservative policies while in office, including stringent abortion restrictions, loosening gun laws and more, all while pointing out Perdue’s loss in a 2021 Senate runoff. 

Beyond his endorsement, Trump funneled more than $3 million to pro-Perdue groups through his leadership PAC, appeared at a rally for Perdue and held a fundraiser for him at Mar-a-Lago, recorded robocalls and more.  

However, it ultimately became clear that it wasn’t enough, with polls late in the race showing Kemp surpassing the 50 percent threshold needed to avoid a runoff. Perdue acknowledged late in the race that he might not win, but said “I guaran-damn-tee you we’re not down 30 points.” 

Perdue ultimately lost by over 50 points, and Kemp easily cleared the runoff bar by getting almost 74 percent of the vote. 

Lower on the ballot, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) fended off a spirited primary challenge by Rep. Jody Hice (R), who also had Trump’s support. 
 

Raffensperger famously rebuffed Trump’s request for him to “find” the votes needed to reverse President Biden’s victory in Georgia in 2020 and became a target of the former president’s ire. While he won by a narrower margin, he still beat Hice by nearly 20 points and garnered over 52 percent of the vote, avoiding a runoff. 

Trump critics basked in the losses, with former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) praising Kemp and Georgia voters. 

“I am so proud of and happy for my friend—and just as importantly for the Georgia GOP and the people of Georgia. They were not going to kick out a great Governor or be willing participants in the DJT Vendetta Tour,” Christie tweeted, using the former president’s initials.

To be sure, Trump did have some wins Tuesday night, including in Georgia. 

Herschel Walker, the former football star and Trump’s chosen pick in the Senate GOP primary, skated to the Republican nomination. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Trump’s former White House press secretary, won the Arkansas gubernatorial GOP primary with ease. 
 

Trump undoubtedly remains the GOP’s de facto leader, and polls continually show that should he run for president again in 2024, he’d likely outrun his competition by hefty margins. But Tuesday night’s results in Georgia showed that voters take more into account when entering the voting booth than who Trump prefers in any given race, particularly if his chosen candidates are running against incumbents with sterling conservative credentials.  

The waiting game in Pennsylvania heads to court 

Pennsylvania’s Senate GOP primary is descending into chaos – and litigation – over a week after the race. 

Celebrity surgeon Mehmet Oz and former hedge fund manager Dave McCormick are running neck-and-neck, separated by fewer than 1,000 votes, in a race heading to a recount.  

And neither side is backing down.  

McCormick’s campaign is suing to have election officials count ballots that were mailed in without a written date on the envelope but were received on or before Election Day. Oz, with the help of the state GOP and Republican National Committee, is arguing for the ballots to be rejected. 

The litigation floodgates were opened on Friday when a circuit court ruled that mail-in ballots without a date but received by Election Day had to be counted in a 2021 judgeship election, a decision McCormick cited in his complaint. 

McCormick is currently outperforming Oz in mail-in ballots, and the result of the lawsuit could significantly sway the Senate primary given how narrow the margin is between the two candidates. 

But on top of that, the court battle is opening up a broader divide within the GOP over mail-in voting and “election integrity.”  

The state Republican Party said in a statement earlier this week that “we absolutely object to the counting of undated mail-in ballots” and called upon “everyone to respect, uphold and follow the clear law on this issue.” 

On the other hand, the conservative National Review ran an op-ed saying “the ballots should be counted,” noting that “each vote is time-stamped when the state election officials receive it by mail.” 

The ultimate nominee will face Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D), who is currently recovering from a stroke, in the November general election. 

On Wednesday, Pennsylvania acting Secretary of State Leigh Chapman officially announced a recount in the race. 

O’ROURKE CONFRONTS ABBOTT ABOUT GUNS

Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke confronted Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) at a press conference in Uvalde on Wednesday following an elementary school shooting that left 21 people, including 19 children, dead.

Abbott had been providing information on mental health in the wake of the shooting when O’Rourke rushed up to the podium.

“You are doing nothing,” O’Rourke said, only feet away from Abbott. “You said this was not predictable, this was totally predictable, and you choose not to do anything.”

Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin could be heard yelling, “sir, you are out of line. Please leave this auditorium.”

O’Rourke, who built much of his brand around gun control, was escorted from the auditorium.

DEMOCRATS SPOTLIGHT CUELLAR’S NRA RATING AMID TIGHT RUNOFF 

In the wake of a Texas elementary school shooting that left 19 children and two adults dead, some Democrats spotlighting Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas)’s previous “A” rating from the National Rifle Association (NRA) and speaking against Democratic leaders who supported him. 

Cuellar is in the midst of a runoff with progressive attorney Jessica Cisneros, a race that has not been called and in which the two are separated by fewer than 200 votes. 
 

“On the day of a mass shooting and weeks after news of Roe, Democratic Party leadership rallied for a pro-NRA, anti-choice incumbent under investigation in a close primary. Robocalls, fundraisers, all of it,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) tweeted late Tuesday. “Accountability isn’t partisan. This was an utter failure of leadership.” 

“Progressive Jessica Cisneros in an extremely close Congressional race in Texas tonight against Henry Cuellar,” former 2020 presidential hopeful Marianne Williamson tweeted. “Pelosi, Clyburn and Hoyer all vigorously supported Cuellar, who’s the only House Democrat with an A rating from the NRA.” 

 
Though the election has not yet been called, Cuellar issued a statement early Wednesday claiming victory over challenger Jessica Cisneros.  

AD WATCH

Hours after Georgia GOP Senate hopeful Herschel Walker and Georgia Democratic gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams won their respective primaries on Tuesday, groups like Republican Governors Association (RGA) and Georgia’s Democratic Party released their own messaging against the candidates. 

The Democratic Party of Georgia released a montage of broadcast clips and headlines slamming Walker’s criticism of big businesses using PPP loans when his own business interests had also used them, claims about his academic credentials and past comments questioning evolution, among others.  

Meanwhile, the RGA is airing a 30-second spot in Atlanta asserting that “typical Stacey Abrams – she believes only she knows what’s best” and bashing her for a photo she took at an elementary school in which she appeared maskless among masked children.  

The six-figure ad buy is the group’s first one they’ve launched for the general election in the state. More on the RGA’s latest ad here.  

That’s it for today. Thanks for reading and check out The Hill’s Campaign page for the latest news and coverage. See you next week.