CHamblee, Ga. (AP) — Becoming as famous as Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is a dream for many ambitious politicians.
“I think most people know who I am now,” the Republican gubernatorial candidate joked before a speech Tuesday in the Atlanta suburb of Chamblee, where signs with his name were posted.
But that reputation could hurt Raffensperger in next Tuesday’s primary, as it stems from opposition to Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential victory. He is one of the few Georgia leaders scorned by Trump for denying his lies, and even though Raffensperger won re-election in 2022, many Republicans still view him as a traitor.
Now the 70-year-old is spending millions of dollars of his own money trying to reintroduce himself as he was before that moment in the spotlight.
“I really think I need to let people know that I’m actually a conservative Christian businessman,” Raffensperger recently told reporters. “If you didn’t realize it, that’s where my teeth cut.”
It’s unclear whether Republican voters are willing to forgive Raffensperger’s political heresy in a party still in thrall to Trump. Raffensperger has faced threats for years, and spokesman Ryan Mahoney said Raffensperger was informed of a credible threat as he began campaigning across the state on Monday.
Mahoney said a Mississippi sheriff’s office received a four-page document that included a photo of Raffensperger with the word “BOOM” written on his forehead. Law enforcement agencies did not immediately acknowledge the investigation.
As authorities cleared the Macon airport Tuesday ahead of Raffensperger’s arrival, a police dog spotted a suspicious object, prompting an evacuation. It wasn’t a bomb, Raffensperger gave a speech on the tarmac.
Raffensperger is trying to sell himself as an alternative to Georgia voters who may be balking at an expensive and ugly primary while Trump-backed Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and health care billionaire Rick Jackson spend big bucks attacking each other.
One of Raffensperger’s television ads depicts Jones and Jackson firing wildly into the air while Raffensperger carefully takes aim one by one. Another depicts “Creepy Rick Jackson” and “Big Baby Burt Jones” throwing mud at each other in a barn.
“They talk about each other all the time and put each other down,” Raffensperger said Tuesday. “No one is talking about the most important person. And that’s our fellow Georgians.”
Try to get rid of the baggage of 2020
Raffensperger’s chances of being nominated may be slim. Even if he qualifies for the June 16 runoff, the campaign could quickly devolve into a squabble over which candidate is the most conservative, an environment in which Raffensperger would face heightened attacks for disloyalty to Trump.
Because Raffensperger is directly responsible for election administration as secretary of state, he has been a punching bag for many Republicans, even some who are not known Trump loyalists. He has had a particularly bad relationship with Jones, one of 16 Georgia Republicans who declared themselves “duly elected and qualified” to be Trump’s electors in 2020 despite Biden winning the state.
Georgia Republican delegates voted in June to bar Raffensperger from running under the party’s flag, saying he was hostile to Trump, but the party qualified him anyway. Last month, a judge rejected an effort by two voters to exclude him from the primary.
Raffensperger’s campaign estimates that one-fifth of the state’s Republican voters will never vote for him, a cadre they describe as “definitely not Raffensperger.”
“Everybody knows there’s voting fraud,” said Cobb County resident Sabrina Mao, who joined Jones’ campaign in Smyrna on Tuesday.
“I don’t think he did anything good,” Mao said of Raffensperger. “He’s just a follower. I don’t think he’s a leader.”
Raffensperger is definitely a throwback to the old Republican Party. While other campaign events featured blaring country music and barbecues, Raffensperger’s go-to move was speaking at the Rotary Club.
In 2023, he sold his concrete reinforcement company, Tendon Systems, for an undisclosed amount. As of last week, Raffensperger had lent $6 million to his campaign and spent or committed at least $4.2 million on advertising. That pales in comparison to Jackson and Jones, who self-funded their campaigns at unprecedented levels. Jones loaned his campaign $17 million, while Jackson spent a staggering $83 million on the campaign.
In addition to Jones and Jackson, Raffensperger is running against Republican Attorney General Chris Kahl, who appeals to many of the same voters as Raffensperger.
On the Democratic side, popular candidates include former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, state Sen. Jason Esteves and former state Labor Commissioner Mike Thurmond.
Former Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, who is also running as a Democrat, has also resisted Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Focus on jobs, not elections
Raffensperger supported Georgia’s electoral approach but quickly pivoted to preferred themes of creating good-paying jobs, cutting property taxes, improving school safety and supporting Trump’s efforts to increase manufacturing jobs.
“If you can create and build good-paying jobs for people, you can change their lives,” Raffensperger said last month in response to a reporter’s question about Georgia’s voting system.
He has often portrayed himself as an opponent of Democrat Stacey Abrams, a frequent critic of Republican election administration, hoping to unite Republicans who despise Abrams.
Jones campaign manager Kendall Parker wrote to the networks on Tuesday asking them to take down Raffensperger’s defamatory ad, which also mentioned Abrams and Biden.
The supporters Raffensperger needs most are suburban voters who support conservatives but are skeptical of Trump. For example, in 2022, many people voted for Republican Gov. Brian Kemp but voted for Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock because they were shut out by Republican candidate Herschel Walker.
Katherine Weber of suburban Sandy Springs, for example, described herself as a “Republican, but not a Trump supporter” after voting last month.
“I’m voting for Brad Raffensperger,” Weber said. “I think he is a man of integrity who is not influenced by politics. He will not do anything Trump says.”
