Trump looks to take down Raffensperger in Georgia

The former president endorses Rep. Jody Hice, who supported Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, against the Georgia secretary of state.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger speaks during a news conference in Atlanta. | John Bazemore/AP Photo

Former President Donald Trump is endorsing Rep. Jody Hice in a campaign to unseat Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in next year’s Republican primary, according to three people familiar with Trump’s decision.

Trump publicly seethed about Raffensperger after the November election, when the secretary of state refused to support Trump’s false claims that Georgia’s 16 electoral votes were stolen from him. Top Raffensperger aides had publicly rebuked the president’s conspiracy theories, warning in early December that it would lead to potential violence.

The then-president aggressively pressured Raffensperger, including in an early January call when Trump told Raffensperger that he should “find” a specific number of votes so that he could reverse Joe Biden’s victory in the state. The call has exposed Trump to potential legal consequences, with Georgia prosecutors investigating whether he improperly tried to influence the election results.

Hice, who first won the election to his east-central Georgia seat in 2014, is a staunch Trump ally who supported Trump’s efforts to overturn the election. He derided the Democratic-led push to impeach Trump over his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill riot as“bogus.”

This statement was attached to Forbes Reporter’s tweet this a.m. @AndrewSolender; It is signed by Trump incorrectly as “President Donald J. Trump.” He is not the president, though he doesn’t seem to realize that fact.

Source: Politico

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