Georgia Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan penned an op-ed that published Tuesday in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution imploring his fellow Republicans to move on from President Donald Trump’s election fraud claims and look to the runoff.
“As one of the leaders of Georgia’s Republican party, I’m highly concerned with the characterization of our recent presidential election as illegal, rigged, or unfair,” he wrote, adding that he had “strongly supported” the President and was disappointed by the election’s result.
“However, an election’s fairness is not measured by how closely its outcome mirrors one party’s preferred result,” he continued.
Taking the argument a step further than other Republicans in the state, he said that Trump’s loss was a teachable moment, showing the party that an outsider can be a “change agent,” but that Republican voters prefer someone who brings about those changes without “diluting conservative policies with demeaning rhetoric.” He pointed to Republican successes down-ballot as proof that the conservative model is still a winning one.
“We cannot allow misinformation about our elections to endanger our state’s exceedingly bright future,” he said. “Simply put, conservatives cannot afford to stay home on election day.”
“Please vote on January 5,” he concluded. “Despite what some may say, I have every confidence that our electoral process will remain fair and impartial.”
Duncan has been making the rounds with this argument, doing a recent interview on CNN during which he said that Trump’s attacks on Governor Brian Kemp (R) and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger “disgust” him.
Duncan’s pushback — specifically his, along with Kemp’s, refusal to call a special session of the Georgia legislature to override the election results — has earned him a couple of angry Trump tweets.
Georgia Lt. Governor @GeoffDuncanGA is a RINO Never Trumper who got himself elected as LG by falsely claiming to be “pro-Trump”. Too dumb or corrupt to recognize massive evidence of fraud in GA & should be replaced! We need every great Georgian to call him out! #SpecialSession!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 8, 2020
RINOS @BrianKempGA, @GeoffDuncanGA, & Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, will be solely responsible for the potential loss of our two GREAT Senators from Georgia, @sendavidperdue & @KLoeffler. Won’t call a Special Session or check for Signature Verification! People are ANGRY!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 8, 2020
Kemp has refused to give in to Trump’s most overt attempts to reverse the state’s election results — a recent report detailed Trump’s pressuring of Kemp to toss out the results and whip up a slate of Trump-loving electors instead — but he has spread election fraud innuendo. He has repeatedly called for a “signature audit,” a rallying point for Republicans who don’t want to cross Trump, but who don’t want Republicans to believe that the system is too rigged to bother voting in.
So far spared from Trump’s loathing are incumbent Sens. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) and David Perdue (R-GA), who have catered to him consistently. Most recently, the two expressed their support for a nonsensical lawsuit out of Texas, which Trump has said his campaign will join, seeking to overturn the election results in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Georgia’s own attorney general, a Republican, called the lawsuit “constitutionally, legally and factually wrong.”
It’s just the most recent schism between the state’s Republicans, who for the past few weeks have split into the camp that blithely echoes Trump’s election fraud claims and the contingent that tells the truth. Duncan has firmly established himself as a part of the latter group.
“I voted for President Trump, I campaigned for him and unfortunately he did not win the state of Georgia,” Duncan said on CNN. “So, yeah, you know, on January 20, Joe Biden is going to be sworn in as the 46th President. The Constitution is still in place. This is still America.”
