The runoff in Georgia highlights the GOP’s concerns about Trump — and the excitement surrounding DeSantis

CNN
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Herschel Walker’s success in his country’s upcoming runoff against incumbent Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock can count on an influx of GOP figures into Georgia by Dec. 6, according to several Republicans.

Many are torn about whether that should include former President Donald Trump, whose status as a party rank is under scrutiny again amid a disappointing Republican midterm result.

“Since Tuesday night, the first question I ask myself is: Is Trump going to ruin everything? said Erik Erickson, a prominent conservative broadcaster based in Georgia, who endorsed Trump’s bid for re-election in 2020.

Although the former president helped recruit Walker, a Georgia football legend and longtime friend of the Trump family, for his Senate contest last year, he was ultimately advised to campaign elsewhere during the general. elections, two people familiar with the matter told CNN. Trump’s appearance in Georgia still haunted some Republicans before becoming a pair in the 2021 runoff, which ended with Democrats winning two seats and taking control of the Senate. At the time, then-President Trump made false claims in his campaign speeches that voter fraud was rampant in Georgia and that Republican officials were working against him.

Walker allies feared that Trump’s appearance before the midterm elections would alienate independents and women from the suburbs, crucial voting blocs in the battleground state. Those concerns remain as Walker now enters the runoff after he and Warnock got no more than 50% of the vote on Tuesday.

Some Georgia Republicans said Trump’s decision to go ahead with the planned launch of the 2024 campaign next week would distract from what should be of the utmost importance to every Republican right now — helping the party win a majority in the Senate. Trump aides sent out invitations Thursday night for the Nov. 15 event at Mar-a-Lago, which the former president hopes will lighten the momentum behind Ron DeSantis, the popular Florida governor and potential presidential candidate. Back. elections this week.

Indeed, as the debate over whether Trump should campaign for Walker unfolds in the coming days, several Republicans have said they would welcome DeSantis’ appearance.

We need every Republican we can get into the state to put their arm around Herschel. I think that [Virginia Gov. Glenn] “Youngkin or DeSantis fit the soft-spoken Republicans or suburban independents we need to get out of,” said Ralph Reed, president of the Faith and Freedom Alliance.

Reid later indicated that he believed Trump could also be helpful in boosting voter turnout in rural Georgia, though he cautioned that he “doesn’t speak for [Walker] countryside. »

He said, “I’ll let them work on it.”

Walker’s campaign manager, Scott Paradise, did not respond to a request for comment.

A person close to Walker’s campaign said DeSantis would be “a big draw if we could get him,” noting that Florida Gov. Brian Kemp did not campaign for Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp. Although he crossed the border recently and recently got the wrong candidates in New York, Arizona, Nevada, and Pennsylvania. Kemp won her re-election bid on Tuesday, beating out Democrat Stacey Abrams for a second time. The Georgia governor has told his allies he wants to help Walker any way he can, including continuing the campaign, according to a person familiar with those conversations.

DeSantis will be helpful. Youngkin will be helpful. Kemp will be helpful. “I think that’s the biggest attraction in Georgia,” Erickson said.

A Republican familiar with DeSantis’ political process said DeSantis’ interest in Locker’s campaign “depends on what happens with the two remaining races” for Senate in Arizona and Nevada. The two rivals are still very close, but if Republicans win either race, control of the Senate will revert to Georgia.

“You become the center of the political world at that point,” said this person.

A spokesperson for DeSantis did not respond to a request for comment on his future travel plans. Although DeSantis has backed Republicans on tough battlefields and campaigned for controversial candidates like Kari Lake in Arizona and Doug Mastriano in Pennsylvania, he made no such effort in the midterms to help Walker amid a flurry of headlines about the former winner’s turbulent past. . and his personal problems.

DeSantis — whose executive headquarters is in Tallahassee, 20 miles from the Florida-Georgia border — didn’t join the GOP battle in the Peach State two years ago in a Senate second round that Republicans ultimately lost.

But a Republican fundraiser close to DeSantis said the Florida governor would likely make the trip across the border if he thought he could help Walker. “He’s a Republican leader and he wants the Republicans to take control of the Senate,” the fundraiser said.

But if DeSantis shows up in Georgia, Trump allies said it would be very difficult to convince the former president to stay out of the state himself. Adding to the frustration of those who want an environment free of distraction from Walker, Trump has continued to hurl insults at DeSantis in recent days, lambasting the Florida governor in a statement Thursday calling him an “ordinary Republican governor” who lacks “loyalty and class” for refusing to decline the White House nomination. Spontaneously.

A person close to Trump said that if the Florida Republican nominee becomes involved in Walker’s campaign, those attacks are likely to escalate.

imagine [Trump] Watching Ron campaign for Herschel while being told, “Please stay away.” That person said.

One of the ideas on the table was to ask the former president to help Walker financially with a generous check, said one Trump aide, who asked not to be named to discuss internal deliberations. MAGA Corporation. Trump’s FEC paid out $16.4 million to candidates in the final weeks of the 2022 cycle and had more than $100 million in fundraising committees through the end of September, according to federal election data.

Reflecting on Tuesday’s disappointing Republican result and Mehmet Oz’s crushing loss in Pennsylvania, one of Trump’s advisers said:

“But I think there is no way he could campaign for president and not go to Walker’s campaign,” the person added, noting that Trump’s absence from Georgia as a front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination suggests he is a burden to the vulnerable. Republicans – a toxic message to send at the start of the presidential campaign.

Michael Caputo, a Trump campaign aide in 2016 who remains close to the former president, said Trump should do everything he can to raise money for Walker because a presidential ad will likely increase Democrat contributions to Warnock.

“You have to make up for that from Walker. In my opinion, the best Trump can do is donate and raise as much money for Herschel as he can,” Caputo said.

Trump’s political team has held discussions about how best to help Walker since it became clear the Georgia Senate race would move to a second round, according to two people familiar with the matter, who both said no decisive decision had been made.

“President Trump is between 220 and 16 in recall races, and with President Trump’s support, Herschel Walker is well positioned to win,” Trump spokesman Taylor Bowditch said in a statement to CNN. .

Much of the sensitivity to Trump’s visit to Georgia stems from his campaign appearances against former Republican Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler two years ago, when the two Republicans were fighting to stay in their contest for second place.

On the eve of the 2021 ballot, Trump blasted state Republican officials for refusing to challenge the results of the 2020 Georgia election, falsely claiming he won the state and promising to come back. Republican president. , which Trump later achieved by recruiting Bordeaux to challenge Kemp in the primary.

Republicans in Washington watched the rally in horror at the time, concerned that Trump’s intense focus on voter fraud and various attacks on Republican officials across the state would dampen voter turnout among his core supporters the next day. In the end, Loeffler and Perdue lost the second round, sending Warnock and Jon Ossoff to the Senate and giving the Democrats a slim majority.

The episode has come back to haunt Trump as Republicans face an identical scenario in 2021, with the Senate in control of Georgia if Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly wins re-election in Arizona, and Republican Adam Laxalt is impeached. . . Laxalt currently leads while Kelly has a more than 100,000-vote lead over his Republican challenger, according to the vote tally Friday morning. Less concerned that he might send a message of denial, but Republicans are mostly worried this time that Trump will end up being a liability to Walker in the now dark red-to-purple color the polarizing former president could alienate exactly the same thing. Voters and Carr shall prevail.

“Herschel should do better among Kemp voters and suburban independents,” Reed said. “About 5% of the voters who went to Kemp did not go to Herschel and there must be at least 1 in 4.”