Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s secretary of state who became a national figure in 2020 for refusing calls to alter the state’s razor-thin presidential election results, formally announced Wednesday that he is running for governor.
In a two-minute launch ad, Raffensperger cast himself as a proven conservative who has stood his ground in difficult fights. “I’m a conservative Republican, and I’m prepared to make the tough decisions,” he declared. “I follow the law and the Constitution, and I always do the right thing for Georgia, no matter what.”
The message marked a careful balancing act. While Raffensperger did not mention President Donald J. Trump by name — nor his own high-profile role in resisting Trump’s effort to dispute Georgia’s results — he nodded subtly to the controversy that thrust him into the national spotlight.
Instead, the ad focused on battles with Democrats, including Stacey Abrams and former President Biden, while highlighting cultural flashpoints that resonate with Republican voters, such as parents’ rights in education and opposition to transgender women competing in women’s sports.
Raffensperger’s candidacy intensifies what is already shaping up to be a fierce Republican primary to succeed Gov. Brian Kemp, who is term-limited. Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, a Trump ally, and state Attorney General Chris Carr are also in the race, making the contest a test of competing visions for Georgia Republicans in the post-Kemp era.
Jones’s candidacy carries its own complications. He was one of more than a dozen so-called “fake electors” who attempted to challenge the 2020 results in Georgia, though prosecutors did not charge him with any wrongdoing.
The contrast between Raffensperger’s defiance of Trump and Jones’s role in efforts to reverse the outcome is expected to loom large in the primary.
Carr, meanwhile, enters the race with the weight of his own record as attorney general, ensuring the primary will be both crowded and combative.
Democrats are preparing for their own contest, with a large field forming. Candidates include former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, former GOP Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, former state Sen. Jason Esteves, state Rep. Derrick Jackson, former DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond, and former pastor Olu Brown.
Abrams, who has twice run unsuccessfully for governor, could also join the field, potentially reshaping the race.
Democratic operatives wasted no time framing the Republican primary as a battle among extremists. “With Raffensperger in, Republicans are set to be locked into a vicious primary between three candidates who all have a record of cheering on Donald Trump’s cost-raising, job-killing agenda, opposing Medicaid expansion, and stripping away reproductive freedoms,” the Democratic field said in a joint statement. “No matter who wins this primary, the Republican nominee will be badly damaged – and completely out of touch with Georgians.”
For now, the general election remains wide open. The Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan handicapper, rates Kemp’s seat a “toss up,” underscoring Georgia’s increasingly competitive politics.
Raffensperger, for his part, is betting that his reputation as a law-abiding conservative — one who clashed with Democrats and stood firm under pressure — will be enough to set him apart in a Republican Party still navigating its identity.
[READ MORE: Trump Wants To End Quarterly Reporting]
