BY MAX GREENWOOD – 05/11/22

Republican luminaries and groups in Georgia and across the country are making one final push to ensure Gov. Brian Kemp fends off a challenge from former Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.), openly defying former President Trump in the state’s closely watched primary.

In recent weeks, Kemp has received the endorsement of the National Rifle Association (NRA) and is slated to attend a fundraiser alongside former President George W. Bush. He’s also been the beneficiary of some $5 million in spending by the Republican Governors Association, which has been running ads for months touting his record in office.

The outside help comes as polling shows that Kemp may have one of the best shots in the country at taking down a Trump-endorsed candidate in a state that has haunted the former president since 2020. While Trump has demonstrated the propensity to pick winners and losers in GOP primaries, the contest in Georgia may end up underscoring the limits of that ability.

“The one thing we always lose sight of because we want to focus on the Donald is the candidates themselves,” said Doug Heye, a Republican strategist. “With Kemp, you’ve got two factors: one, he’s been a successful governor in the state, and two, he’s running against someone who voters have already rejected.”

Trump pledged to exact revenge on Kemp after he rebuffed the former president’s pleas to help him overturn his 2020 electoral loss in Georgia, turning against a onetime ally whom he had previously endorsed. Trump eventually persuaded Perdue to launch a primary challenge to Kemp, betting that his endorsement and Perdue’s focus on baseless claims of election fraud would galvanize conservative voters against Kemp.

But Trump’s endorsement has so far failed to materialize into overwhelming support for Perdue, who lost reelection last year after falling short in a hotly contested runoff against Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.).

Over the past month, Kemp has notched above 50 percent in public polling, suggesting that he may be on track to win the May 24 primary outright. Perdue, meanwhile, is trailing the incumbent governor by double digits; an Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll released last month showed Kemp leading Perdue by a nearly 2-to-1 margin.