This week, the Republican primary for governor got even messier as Burt Jones strongly defended Trump’s FBI raid in Fulton County and assailed his GOP rivals Chris Carr and Brad Raffensperger over MAGA conspiracy theories. New details were also revealed about the source of $9 million in mysterious ad spending attacking Jones’ record. This all comes as the primary emerges as nothing more than a fast-accelerating race to the right and a hard-and-fast Trump loyalty test, with the candidates so afraid to contradict Trump they weren’t even willing to condemn ICE’s killing of an American citizen in Minneapolis.
Here’s the latest on this ugly GOP primary:
Jones Defends Trump’s FBI Raid, Pummels GOP Opponents: On Wednesday, Trump-endorsed Jones lit a match within this already explosive primary, fully supporting Trump’s FBI raid and viciously smearing his GOP opponents in the process.
- Jones took to X to say that Brad Raffensperger hasn’t “hasn’t fixed the corruption” and Chris Carr “hasn’t prosecuted it.”
- This comes as Jones has continued to go full MAGA to defend himself against a wave of attacks, highlighting in two separate posts this week his “complete and total endorsement” from President Trump.
- Jones has also ratcheted up his attacks against Raffensperger and hammered his record as the state’s top elections official, with the Atlanta Journal Constitution noting Friday that Jones “has pummeled Raffensperger for months.”
GOP Primary Nothing More than a Trump Loyalty Test: The Republican primary is emerging as nothing more than a hard-and-fast loyalty test to Trump, as the Republican candidates hide from voters on critical issues.
- Jones, Carr, and Raffensperger have remained completely silent on ICE abuses in Minnesota – including the killing of American citizens – and WABE took notice, saying that “few Georgia Republicans” have commented at all.
- But Clark Dean, a Republican who’s running for governor, is now speaking out against ICE abuses in an interview with The Macon Telegraph. That begs the question: Don’t Georgia voters deserve to hear from leading candidates – who are all also statewide elected officials?
Carr, Jones Spar Over $9 Million Mystery Ads: Jones and Carr are intensifying their attacks on one another as explosive new details are being released about the possible source of $9 million ads attacking Jones’ long record of self-enrichment in public office.
- According to the Atlanta-Journal Constitution, a Carr aide sent a Republican activist a link on Nov. 26 to the first ad from Georgians for Integrity – two days before the ads accusing Jones of self-dealing actually began running.
- The Carr campaign denied involvement, but added: “the serious allegations of Burt Jones’s self-dealing are widely known and deserve attention.”
- The Jones campaign then further contributed to the chaos, firing back: “Another big swing and a miss from Team Carr. […] I would encourage the Attorney General to spend more time doing his job and less time obsessing over Burt Jones.”
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