Many in the state G.O.P. are expending significant effort — and contorting themselves into political pretzels — to navigate the president’s outrage over his loss, hoping to retain the support of his base.
Even though Gov. Brian Kemp has already certified Georgia’s 16 electoral votes for Joseph R. Biden Jr., his fellow Republicans plan to hold a pair of State Senate committee hearings Thursday that are likely to dig into the question of whether the state’s election was, as President Trump falsely puts it, “rigged.” The lawmakers will not fulfill Mr. Trump’s ultimate wish, expressed in a tweet earlier this week: that enough proof of fraud will be uncovered for him to prevail. But Georgia, perhaps more than any other state in the nation, continues to be haunted by a sort of zombie campaign to produce a Trump victory, one month after Election Day. Many of the state’s Republicans continue to expend significant effort — and contort themselves into political pretzels — to navigate the president’s outrage that he lost the state, in the hope of demonstrating to his supporters that they are doing all they can to ferret out any trace of fraud to back Mr. Trump baseless claims. The effort, which also encompasses numerous lawsuits and an influential far-right disinformation campaign, will not change the election result, barring some Hail Mary upending of a race that has already been certified. But it may have other powerful consequences for the political future of Georgia — and by extension, the nation, given Georgia’s unquestionable new status as a battleground state. For some Republicans, the most urgent concern is that the president’s ongoing effort to undermine faith in the election process will depress conservative turnout in the all-important Jan.5 runoff races for the seats held by Georgia’s Republican U.S. senators, David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler. That anxiety has only increased as Mr. Trump persists in his attacks on the state’s voting integrity. On Wednesday, a group of 19 prominent Georgia Republicans — among them former Gov. Nathan Deal and two former U.S. senators, Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson — issued an open letter warning that the focus on fraud allegations could “detract” from the runoffs, which will determine which party controls the U.S. Senate. “We have watched with increasing concern as the debate surrounding the state’s electoral system has made some within our party consider whether voting in the coming runoff election matters,” they wrote, warning that if Republicans did not turn out in full force, “the trajectory of our State and Nation will be irreparably altered on January 5th.” Their concerns came to life Wednesday afternoon at a park in the upscale Atlanta suburb of Alpharetta, where hundreds of Trump supporters gathered, waving American flags and Trump flags, to cheer two lawyers who have challenged the Georgia election results in federal court, Sidney Powell and L. Lin Wood. “You’re here because we the people will not let them steal our vote!” Mr. Wood, a prominent right-wing Atlanta lawyer, told the cheering crowd. “We will not let them steal our freedom. Every lie will be revealed! And on January the 20th of 2021, Donald J.
