Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who resisted President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results, has announced his run for governor.
A lifelong Republican, the state official has faced bitter criticism from his fellow party members for what they view as his refusal to properly investigate voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election. The initial results saw a razor-thin margin between Trump, who had 49.2% of the state’s votes, and Joe Biden, who had 49.5%.
While Raffensperger ordered a hand recount, conservatives raised concerns over continued voting discrepancies. For example, about 2,600 uncounted votes were discovered which contained 1,643 for Trump and 865 for Biden, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported, raising concerns over potential systemic vote issues which remained uninvestigated.
Questions were raised over alleged deficiencies in the state’s signature-matching procedures, suspicious video of ballots being counted after hours, revelations about homeless residents being allowed to use the address of an Atlanta charity instead of valid proof of residence, and changes made to the state’s absentee ballot rules without legislative approval.
In addition, Georgia rejected just 0.2 percent of mail-in ballots due to flaws in 2020, compared to a rejection rate of 6.4 percent in 2016, Just the News reported.
Trump subsequently reproved Gov. Brian Kemp and Raffensperger for certifying the state’s presidential election results in favor of Biden, despite unresolved concerns about the vote’s accuracy.
Republicans lost such confidence in Raffensperger that lawmakers divested him of his role as voting member and chair of the State Election board in 2021 via SB 202.
The GOP then moved to oust the Secretary of State entirely from the State Election Board in January 2024 through SB 358.
In 2019, Raffensperger went head-to-head with 2018 Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, when she fought his effort to remove 300,000 names from the voter registration rolls. Raffensperger won the legal battle, and in 2021 scrubbed over 100,000 additional names from the Georgia voter rolls.
Raffensperger supports eliminating the state income tax, deporting illegal immigrants in accordance with the Trump administration, and increasing tax credits for school choice.He will be contending with state Attorney General Chris Carr and Lt. Gov. Burt Jones — who has secured Trump’s endorsement — for the GOP nomination.
