It took newly announced Georgia GOP gubernatorial candidate David Perdue less than one week to dive straight down the 2020 election conspiracy rabbit hole in search of Trump’s cultists.
After publicly asserting that he would cheat for Donald Trump at any cost, Perdue filed a lawsuit Friday resurrecting baseless fraud claims about Fulton County absentee ballots. The suit is reminiscent of several other failed legal challenges to the state’s results, including one that sought to review nearly 150,000 absentee ballots in Fulton County. A state Superior Court judged dismissed that case on standing, a legal standard that Perdue might be able to clear. As a former U.S. Senator who ultimately lost his reelection bid last fall, Perdu arguably would have suffered injury if widespread fraud had ensued.
Of course, it’s already exceedingly clear following multiple recounts and investigations that no such fraud did occur. In fact, a post-election review of some 15,000 absentee ballots by law enforcement and election investigators failed to turn up a single instance of fraud.
But finding fraud isn’t the point. It’s the implication of fraud and the idea that Perdue will go to the mat for Trump that the newly minted gubernatorial candidate wants to impress upon Trump’s faithful in his primary challenge to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp.
“David Perdue wants to use his position and legal standing to shine light on what he knows were serious violations of Georgia law in the Fulton absentee ballot tabulation,” Perdue’s attorney, Bob Cheeley, claimed in an interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Again—three recounts, one conducted by hand, and separate law enforcement investigations turned up zero evidence of fraud. Instead, they all confirmed that Joe Biden was the rightful winner of the state by a margin of roughly 12,000 votes.
Perdue’s shameless stunt wasn’t lost on Gov. Kemp.
“David Perdue is so concerned about election fraud that he waited a year to file a lawsuit that conveniently coincided with his disastrous campaign launch,” Kemp spokesman Cody Hall said.
Perdue skewered Kemp in his campaign announcement, telling Georgians he had “failed all of us” and directly blaming the sitting GOP governor for his own reelection loss, along with those of Trump and his fellow GOP Sen. Kelly Loeffler.
Two days after announcing his bid, Perdue recommitted himself to cheating on behalf of Trump, asserting that he wouldn’t have certified the November election results that Kemp did. “Not with the information that was available at the time and not with the information that has come out now,” Perdue said, without specifying exactly what “information” he was referencing.
Perdue’s entire campaign strategy ensures the state’s 2022 political debate will be mired in 2020 conspiracy theories—precisely the opposite direction from what congressional Republicans have promised for the midterms. Both Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, Senate GOP campaign chief, and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky have repeatedly assured reporters that the 2020 election and Trump’s Big Lie wouldn’t drive the GOP conversation.
“I do think we need to be thinking about the future and not the past,” McConnell said in October, echoing the sentiments of Scott. “It’s my hope the ’22 election will be a referendum on the performance of the current administration, not a rehash of suggestions about what may have happened in 2020.”
Seems to be panning out perfectly for ol’ masterful Mitch—he’s really got a handle on Trump. It’s almost as if McConnell’s endorsement of Trump’s pick for Georgia’s Senate seat, Herschel Walker, was an unconditional surrender.
After publicly asserting that he would cheat for Donald Trump at any cost, Perdue filed a lawsuit Friday resurrecting baseless fraud claims about Fulton County absentee ballots. The suit is reminiscent of several other failed legal challenges to the state’s results, including one that sought to review nearly 150,000 absentee ballots in Fulton County. A state Superior Court judged dismissed that case on standing, a legal standard that Perdue might be able to clear. As a former U.S. Senator who ultimately lost his reelection bid last fall, Perdu arguably would have suffered injury if widespread fraud had ensued.
Of course, it’s already exceedingly clear following multiple recounts and investigations that no such fraud did occur. In fact, a post-election review of some 15,000 absentee ballots by law enforcement and election investigators failed to turn up a single instance of fraud.
But finding fraud isn’t the point. It’s the implication of fraud and the idea that Perdue will go to the mat for Trump that the newly minted gubernatorial candidate wants to impress upon Trump’s faithful in his primary challenge to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp.
“David Perdue wants to use his position and legal standing to shine light on what he knows were serious violations of Georgia law in the Fulton absentee ballot tabulation,” Perdue’s attorney, Bob Cheeley, claimed in an interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Again—three recounts, one conducted by hand, and separate law enforcement investigations turned up zero evidence of fraud. Instead, they all confirmed that Joe Biden was the rightful winner of the state by a margin of roughly 12,000 votes.
Perdue’s shameless stunt wasn’t lost on Gov. Kemp.
“David Perdue is so concerned about election fraud that he waited a year to file a lawsuit that conveniently coincided with his disastrous campaign launch,” Kemp spokesman Cody Hall said.
Perdue skewered Kemp in his campaign announcement, telling Georgians he had “failed all of us” and directly blaming the sitting GOP governor for his own reelection loss, along with those of Trump and his fellow GOP Sen. Kelly Loeffler.
Two days after announcing his bid, Perdue recommitted himself to cheating on behalf of Trump, asserting that he wouldn’t have certified the November election results that Kemp did. “Not with the information that was available at the time and not with the information that has come out now,” Perdue said, without specifying exactly what “information” he was referencing.
Perdue’s entire campaign strategy ensures the state’s 2022 political debate will be mired in 2020 conspiracy theories—precisely the opposite direction from what congressional Republicans have promised for the midterms. Both Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, Senate GOP campaign chief, and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky have repeatedly assured reporters that the 2020 election and Trump’s Big Lie wouldn’t drive the GOP conversation.
“I do think we need to be thinking about the future and not the past,” McConnell said in October, echoing the sentiments of Scott. “It’s my hope the ’22 election will be a referendum on the performance of the current administration, not a rehash of suggestions about what may have happened in 2020.”
Seems to be panning out perfectly for ol’ masterful Mitch—he’s really got a handle on Trump. It’s almost as if McConnell’s endorsement of Trump’s pick for Georgia’s Senate seat, Herschel Walker, was an unconditional surrender.