Georgia Politics

Original air date: Sept. 10, 2023

Nowhere is the controversy over the 2020 election hotter than in Georgia. Multiple voting irregularities stoked accusations from Trump’s side that the election was stolen. Democrat prosecutors are pursuing criminal charges accusing Trump of illegally trying to overturn the results. Today, national polls show Trump is far and away the Republican frontrunner. Now the Republican Party in Georgia is trying to present a united front heading into 2024. Scott Thuman reports from Atlanta.

At the next election, this southern state — until recently a Republican stronghold — could determine the entire country's direction.

Josh McKoon: Our path to the White House runs through Georgia. A Republican, to get elected president, Georgia is a must-win state. You look at the map — Republicans can't get to 270 without Georgia.

Josh McKoon has one of the tougher jobs in politics. As the new chairman of the Georgia GOP, he's trying to move his state more firmly into Republican hands.

When Joe Biden won here in 2020, he became the first Democrat presidential candidate to do so in 28 years. And the left didn't just carry the White House; two first-time politicians, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock — both Democrats — beat two incumbent Republicans in the U.S. Senate in a rare double runoff.

2020 left deep divisions among Republicans here. Biden won by less than 12,000 votes, a razor-thin margin of just 0.2%.

And Trump's campaign pointed to scores of irregularities. Most turned out to be false, but a handful were real. There were tabulation errors originally favoring Biden. And counting was paused because of a pipe break, only to be quickly resumed after Republican election observers left the room.

But the state's Republican governor and secretary of state, who ran the election, repeatedly defended its integrity against Trump's attacks.

Scott: What about the biggest x-factor, perhaps in all of this, being former President Trump. Does he help you or hurt you these days?

McKoon: Look, I think there are a lot of people that I've seen get involved in the Georgia Republican Party because of their excitement around the Trump administration, the president's policies, the America First agenda. And I think that the key in the general election is, while keeping our base motivated and out to the polls, that we do keep a focus on the Biden administration's failures and how a Republican president, whoever that is, is going to put America in a position to lead the world again.

Though Atlanta's suburbs have become less Republican, the Democrats face challenges here too. Case in point: State Representative Mesha Mainor, elected on the Democrats' ticket three years ago.

She recently made the bold move to switch to the Republican Party.

What is it about the Democratic Party that you think has changed so dramatically that it just was no longer home for you?

Mainor: Think about what the Democrats are promoting. Right now, they are promoting, we need to get this antisemitism law passed. I am supporting all ethnic and religious groups, but that is their priority. The other priority — transgender rights. I support everybody, but that is their priority.

Mainor says her focus now, as a Republican, will remain education.

McKoon: One of the things I'm most proud of in this short tenure I've had as Republican Party chairman is to convince Representative Mesha Mainor to switch parties, become the first black female Republican in the history of the Georgia General Assembly.

While McKoon sees Mainor's switch as a win for the party, it is contrasted by some looming concerns. Nineteen defendants in Trump's circle, headlined by Trump himself, were indicted in August for allegedly scheming to overturn his 2020 loss there. McKoon admits his party is spending an inordinate amount of time, energy, and money to defend members fighting to now stay out of jail.

He hopes that 2020 was the party's low point in the Peach State, reminding Republicans to stick to core conservative issues, like the economy.

McKoon: I would just ask people to ask themselves, between 2017, 2021, how was the economy doing? What was your, you know, personal feeling of public safety like? It's the age-old question. Do you feel better off today than you did before Joe Biden was elected? Everyone I ask that question to, it's a resounding answer; the answer is no.

But aware the days when an R next to the name on the ballot would guarantee a Republican win are long gone.

For Full Measure, I'm Scott Thuman in Georgia.