Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan (R), one of ex-President Donald Trump’s few Republican critics, announced on Monday that he will not be seeking reelection in 2022.
“The national events of the last six months have deeply affected my family in ways I would have never imagined when I first asked for their support to run for Lieutenant Governor in 2017,” Duncan said in a statement. “Through all the highs and lows of the last six months they have never left my side and are once again united behind me in my pursuit of a better way forward for our conservative party — a GOP 2.0.”
As one of the handful of GOP officials who have pushed back against Trump’s lies about the 2020 election, Duncan has been a target of the ex-president’s rage against “RINOs” (Republicans In Name Only) who won’t play into his false narrative that the election was tainted by voter fraud.
In March, the lieutenant governor slammed Trump’s “divisive tone and strategy” and said he was “disgusted” with Trump’s attempt to pressure a Georgia election investigator into legitimizing his crusade to undermine Joe Biden’s victory in the state.
Duncan also criticized fellow Georgia Republicans for “appeasing the extreme right corners of their districts” by peddling Trump’s voter fraud myth and passing the much-criticized bill to restrict voting access in wake of the election.
And the official backed Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) — who has also spoken out against “the Big Lie” and voted to impeach Trump for inciting the insurrection — earlier this month as Cheney’s GOP colleagues were gearing up to strip her of her role as House Republican Conference chair.
“At the end of the day, I think, just like Liz Cheney, I believe in telling the truth,” Duncan told CNN.
