Salon this week identified former Republican senator and current Georgia gubernatorial candidate David Perdue as one of the nation’s 10 “scariest Republican candidates of 2022.”
The Georgia Star News asked Perdue spokeswoman Jenni Sweat on Tuesday whether that article signals that the left takes Perdue’s candidacy seriously and outright fears he’ll defeat incumbent Republican Governor Brian Kemp later this year.
“I think it’s fair to characterize it that way,” Sweat said.
In the article, Salon said Perdue and other GOP candidates, including Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake and Ohio U.S. Senate candidate J.D. Vance, if elected, “could pose a legitimate threat to democracy.”
Salon mentioned Perdue was recently endorsed by former U.S. President Donald Trump.
“Trump has made it a point to back primary challenges to his perceived enemies, throwing his support behind Perdue — who lost to Democrat Jon Ossoff in a January 2021 runoff — even as the state’s Republican lawmakers pleaded for him to stay out after many blamed him for costing the party both of its Georgia U.S. Senate seats,” Salon said.
“Perdue was already out of the Senate last January 6, but now says he would have voted to block Biden’s win. After landing Trump’s endorsement earlier this month, Perdue filed a dubious lawsuit calling for an investigation of absentee ballots in his Senate race over vote-rigging allegations against Democratic election officials, some 11 months after his defeat. He also said earlier this month that he would not have certified Biden’s victory if he had been governor.”
Sweat, when asked about the contents of the Salon article, said Tuesday that “Kemp caved to Democrats before the election and our country is paying the price.” She also said Perdue is the only candidate who can defeat Democrat Stacey Abrams in November.
Last month, Perdue and another Georgia resident cited fraud in the 2020 elections in Fulton County and filed a suit seeking greater election transparency. In their lawsuit, Perdue and Elizabeth Grace Lennon requested access to Fulton County’s absentee ballots and absentee envelopes from 2020. They filed the suit in the Superior Court of Fulton County. Lennon said county officials denied her the right to vote.
Perdue’s and Lennon’s lawsuit also said several batches of absentee ballots were scanned multiple times.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
Background Photo “Georgia Capitol” by Ken Lund. CC BY-SA 2.0.
