Kemp Lets Perdue Flail in the Wind During Georgia Primary Gubernatorial Debate – Opinion

Last December, former Senator David Perdue (R. Georgia) suggested that he might run for the Georgia Republican Governor primary. Brian Kemp. And as my colleague, Bonchie said clearly a few months later, right in his headline: “David Perdue Files to Run in Georgia Again Because Republicans Never Learn.”

He wasn’t kidding. Perdue and Kemp fought in Sunday’s GOP primary debate. Perdue’s performance against Kemp will leave no one wondering why he skipped out of a debate against Jon Ossoff when running in 2021 to hold on to his Senate seat in the run-off election. Let’s just say, it wasn’t because he was overconfident about prevailing on May 24.

You only have to watch two videos from the bout’s 90-minute duration to understand that. The first one begins with a question to Perdue, the moderator asking him to present “factual evidence that there was voter fraud.” Perdue spends over a minute outlining alleged fraudulent activity in both the 2020 and 2021 elections — in each situation, lambasting the Governor and his office for not acting.

Perdue ends with:

“He’s not only tried to suppress [evidence], he’s tried to cover it up and fault the individuals trying to bring this to light, and get the truth.

[…]

He claimed it was an easy election. He denies anything happened.”

Kemp responds: “I have never said that, ever.” Perdue cuts him off, asking him if he denies saying that, then implies that Kemp “thinks Joe Ossoff and Joe Biden won fair and square.”

Kemp’s reply is strong, and begins at the two-minute mark in the video below. He not only chides his opponent for mischaracterizing his words, but checked off his actions — both as a former Georgia Secretary of State and as Governor — to curb the very real voter fraud that goes on. He specifically points to one of the left’s major coups during the pandemic, the ballot drop boxes, which he noted were “approved by the State Board of Elections.”

Kemp then points at Perdue’s failure to sign on to a lawsuit to contest the special election, immediately after his Senate loss. Perdue is completely ignored by Kemp’s weak attacks.

If Perdue’s flailing weren’t obvious enough in that clip, the closing statements nail things shut.

There’s one sure thing every consultant tells a candidate to do in a closing — whatever else you include, make your case to the voter. The question is why the voter should choose you over the other candidate. In Perdue’s remarks, he doesn’t do that at any point. The entire thing is a rant against Perdue’s alleged malfeasance during the 2020 election. Seriously? I’m sure the voters heard enough of that on the campaign trail and throughout the rest of the debate. Perdue was at the bottom of this, as his campaign must have known.

If you can’t tell people the positive reasons you should be elected, you should never throw your hat in the ring in the first place.

In strong contrast, that’s what Kemp does (starting at 1:06, below). Because of three things he has to say about Democrat Stacey Abrams, make sure you listen until the very end. It’s a killer line.

Listen:

Although the primary for GOP may still be one month away, it will take place on May 24, 2019. But you can stick a fork in Perdue right now — he’s done.