EDITOR’S NOTE: AJC Politics Reporter Greg Bluestein’s book, “Flipped: How Georgia Turned Purple and Broke the Monopoly on Republican Power,” provides deep insight into the 2020 elections that delivered nationally significant wins for Democrats in a state that has been solidly Republican for generations. This excerpt presents inside details of the final days before the runoffs for U.S. Senate, where incumbents Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue attempted to manage President Trump’s unfounded claims of election fraud in Georgia and their fight to stay in office. At stake was the balance of power in the U.S. Senate. Greg interviewed hundreds of politicians, operatives, volunteers and voters for his book, recounting the behind-the-scenes happenings as history unfolded. This excerpt was lightly edited for clarity.
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It should have been a joyous occasion. In late December 2020, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp stood beside the state’s public health commissioner, Dr. Kathleen Toomey, as she received one of the first doses of the coronavirus vaccine that would eventually be distributed to millions of Georgians. Witnessing the launch of vaccinations after nine months of coordinating the state’s response to the pandemic, the governor confided, was “almost overwhelming.”
Less than an hour later, Kemp glumly stood in the Georgia capitol discussing conspiracy theories, some aimed directly at Kemp’s family, from Trump supporters who believed the president had been victimized by a rigged election. It had become a running joke in Kemp’s office that the governor must have said the word “distraction” one hundred times a day— as in, talking about reversing the election results was only a costly distraction for Republicans who should be focused on the runoffs.
For Kemp, it was also becoming increasingly personal: he singled out the vicious lies targeting his grieving daughter, Lucy, who had received hate-filled messages about the auto accident earlier that month that had killed her boyfriend.
“We have the ‘no crying in politics rule’ in the Kemp house. But this is stuff that, if I said it, I would be taken to the woodshed and would never see the light of day,” he said. “I can assure you I can handle myself. And if they’re brave enough to come out from underneath that keyboard or behind it, we can have a little conversation if they would like to.”
Georgia Republican leaders were now beyond hoping that President Donald Trump would tire of his obsession with Georgia.
Credit: File
Credit: File
“This is the first time Trump has gone for more than a few days on message. We thought he’d change the subject, but he didn’t,” said a Kemp confidant. As they watched the GOP civil war intensify, the Democratic campaigns couldn’t deny a wash of optimism that the stars were aligning in their favor.
“I’m nervous. I’m feeling almost too good about our chances. Which means something must be off,” one Warnock aide texted fellow Democratic strategists. Loeffler’s advisers were growing increasingly pessimistic about her chances. In a December 29 text, one wrote: “It’s going to be real close. Real close. And if we lose, we know who to blame.”
The Trump effect on the GOP electorate was so profound that Republicans had drafted an entire data set titled “GOP NOT VOTING” detailing seemingly reliable conservative voters who were deemed unlikely to cast ballots in the runoff.
“It haunted us. I wanted to hit my head against the wall,” said Chris Allen, one of Georgia U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler’s deputies.
While the senator was dreaming up new ways to prove her loyalty to Trump to keep his voters on board, she was beset by distractions from the president and his allies.
A week before the runoff, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani called a meeting with the Georgia Senate Republicans and their top operatives to level the latest in a string of phony claims. He had just weeks earlier starred in the second of two legislative hearings in the state to air false charges of fraud on Trump’s behalf, at one point insisting that “every single vote should be taken away from Biden.”
At this private conference call, Giuliani told the senators that they didn’t even need a special session— they could unilaterally overturn the election.
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Credit: undefined
As he droned on, Loeffler invented a reason to duck out after twenty minutes, citing a nonexistent media interview. A few minutes later, Georgia U.S. Sen. David Perdue also got off the line. “Every day we were putting out fires,” said one of Loeffler’s advisers. “We were a hostage with every limb taped, a gun to our head, and a hairpin trigger.”
… The day before the runoff, Vice President Mike Pence was imploring Republicans to vote in the two runoff elections at a megachurch in the tiny town of Milner when he was interrupted by Trump supporters shouting at the vice president to “do the right thing” and “stop the steal” on January 6.
“It feels like I’m inside a tornado with all kinds of facts and falsehoods swirling around me,” said Cade Parian, a west Georgia Republican. “I don’t know where the tornado is going to spit me out, but I hope like hell it’s with a majority in the US Senate.”
Credit: John Amis
Credit: John Amis
Trump’s trip to Dalton gave voters like Parian little relief. For weeks, just about every time Loeffler took questions from the media, she was asked whether she would join the GOP movement to block Biden’s victory in Congress by challenging Electoral College certification. As she waffled on the issue, her aides privately warned allies that a pledge by the senator to contest the Electoral College results should be taken as a signal that her campaign had hit a new level of desperation.
As Trump traveled to Georgia, and Loeffler’s internal polling showed she continued to struggle with the party’s base, that moment came in a six-sentence statement issued around 6:00 p.m. on the eve of the runoff.
Credit: file
Credit: file
Saying she had “real concerns” about the way the November election was conducted, Loeffler promised to vote to give “President Trump and the American people the fair hearing they deserve.”
Taking the stage a few minutes later, Loeffler announced the decision to an overjoyed audience. “That’s right,” she said, her voice straining to cut through the clamor. “We’re going to get this done.”
Once again, and to no one’s surprise, the Trump rally was more focused on the phony claims of election fraud than control of the U.S. Senate.
On giant TV screens draped by a towering American flag, the thousands bundled up at the Dalton airport were treated to videos touting more unsubstantiated claims of fraud.
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Credit: undefined
Even the password for the balky Wi‑Fi signaled the true purpose of Trump’s mission: “SeeYouJan6!” it read.
As Trump flew to Georgia, Perdue was still in quarantine at his Atlanta townhouse, watching anxiously from afar. He was given a chance to edit the president’s prepared remarks as Trump’s jet neared, but he still couldn’t look the president in the eye and tell him, point-blank, that he had to call on his supporters to set aside their misgivings about the November election and show up in force on Tuesday.
Trump triumphantly descended from the Marine One helicopter, which touched down behind a row of yellow school buses along the tarmac. Taking the stage with a smile, he warmed the crowd up with a lie. “Hello, Georgia. By the way, there is no way we lost Georgia. There’s no way,” he said immediately. “That was a rigged election. But we are still fighting it.”
BOOK EVENT
Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta Book Festival presents Greg Bluestein, author of “Flipped: How Georgia Turned Purple and Broke the Monopoly on Republican Power” in conversation with Bill Nigut, host and executive producer of Political Rewind on Georgia Public Broadcasting. 7:30 p.m. March 24. 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody.
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