Last month, Donald Trump became the first former president convicted of a felony when a New York jury found him guilty of 34 charges in his hush money trial. Tomorrow, he takes the stage in Atlanta in a high-stakes debate with President Joe Biden.
Former Congressman Doug Collins, one of Trump’s top Georgia allies, joined “Politically Georgia” to talk about what the former president must do to win the night.
The latest polling by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution shows that Trump has a slight edge on President Joe Biden in Georgia with a 43% to 38% lead. Collins said this is not a time for the Trump campaign to take their foot off the gas.
“We’re four months out on this,” he said. “Anybody that thinks that we stop right here is, you know, not being realistic. I do believe that this contest will come down to October.”
Collins supported Trump during his 2020 campaign and called on Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to do a recount when Trump lost Georgia by less than 12,000 votes.
The former president continues to claim the election was stolen from him despite no evidence of widespread fraud in Georgia after multiple recounts and court challenges. Collins thinks it’s time to move on from the last election.
“For my part, we’ve moved on. This is 2024,” he said. “The only way you can be sure that your voice is heard is to get out there and vote.”
On the debate stage Thursday night, Collins said that he hopes Trump sticks to the key economic talking points.
“Even in your poll, it showed that the economy and inflation (are) the issues right now,” he said.
He also commented on the uniqueness of the race.
“I remind people when I speak to them all the time. This is the first (election) in 100-plus years, (where) we’ve actually had incumbents actually running,” said Collins.
The last time a former president ran against a sitting president and won was Grover Cleveland in 1892.
When it came to his own political future, Collins said he was “not done yet,” but he did not say whether he planned to run for office in 2026.
Thursday on “Politically Georgia”: Democrat and political commentator Bakari Sellers joins the show.
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