佐治亚州ALPHARETTA。-凯利·洛夫勒有一个警告。
这位来自佐治亚州的前美国参议员在共和党内斗中在1月份的决选中被击败，周六她对家乡的共和党委员会说，只有统一的政党才能避免在2022年中期选举中重演。
“我在竞选中看到的是，我们需要做得更好。我们只需要开始工作，”雷夫勒在富尔顿县共和党人的年度大会上说。
然而共和党人似乎过不了2020年。
在雷夫勒请求后的几个小时内，至少10个地方党委投票谴责州长布莱恩·坎普、国务卿布拉德·拉芬斯佩格或两者都没有帮助推翻总统唐纳德·特朗普11月的失败。两个县已经这样做了。此外，佐治亚州共和党主席大卫·谢弗在参加当地大会时急切地指出，他起诉了“一名共和党国务卿”。在该州人口最多的富尔顿县，大量新代表驱逐了几名现任官员，尽管他们承诺效忠特朗普。
这种紧张关系反映出前总统对共和党的控制越来越紧，并表明即使像坎普这样毫不掩饰的保守派也受到持续指责和竞争的摆布，这是特朗普错误断言2020年存在操纵的最响亮的回声选举。
肯普和拉芬斯珀格都是特朗普在认证民主党后愤怒的目标乔·拜登美国在佐治亚州险胜。一些县要求拉芬伯格辞职。
坎普的一名助手关注的是，在159个县中，有几个县正式谴责了这位州长，称他“感谢”基层支持，并期待着一场初选，在初选中他可以吹嘘自己的“成功记录”。拉芬伯格的一名助手没有回应置评请求。
事实上，两人避开了一些谴责。作为亚特兰大核心区的一部分，格温内特县投票否决了这些措施。包括富尔顿在内的其他几个县谴责拉芬伯格，但在坎普没有发言权。其他县在休会时完全避免投票，因为在漫长的一天后，剩下的代表太少，无法开展工作。
尽管如此，这一趋势表明，在2022年之前，坎普仍有工作要做，以支撑他的右翼。
“我对肯普很失望，我绝对会考虑其他人，”露丝·安妮·塔图姆说，她是一名退休的阿尔法莱塔教师，也是第一次参加富尔顿县代表大会的几十名代表之一。
塔图姆说，她前往华盛顿参加1月6日的集会，特朗普在集会上向支持者发表讲话，随后一些支持者在国会清点拜登在选举团的胜利时冲进美国国会大厦。她说她不在叛乱分子之列，但认为这一事件被不公平地归咎于特朗普。
“我厌倦了所有的谎言、腐败和欺骗，”塔图姆指着民主党人和共和党人说道。“所有的，”她说。
帮助组织这些决议的活动家黛比·杜利(Debbie Dooley)表示，这些投票足以表明坎普面对的是一个“分裂的基层”，这应该会让当权的共和党人感到紧张。
事实上，坎普2022年的前景不仅仅是他能否赢得第二个任期的提名。他仍然是我们的最爱。他迄今唯一的对手弗农·琼斯是一名前民主党人，以直言不讳的特朗普黑人支持者而闻名。肯普通过签署最近的佐治亚州选举法改革，并为其辩护免受自由主义者和企业领导人的批评，提高了自己的地位。
然而，特朗普的失败——随后是雷夫勒和参议员大卫·珀杜在1月份的失败——表明一个特朗普品牌的政党在佐治亚州是多么危险。与特朗普保持距离需要共和党核心的选票，而与特朗普抱得太紧会激怒左翼，并需要中间的选票，尤其是在亚特兰大市的温和派中。
特雷·凯利在竞选连任富尔顿共和党主席失败后说:“我不知道需要什么才能度过难关。”早些时候，他站在一个将格鲁吉亚称为“特朗普国家”的标志后面，向330名代表大声宣布“2020年选举被盗”，这是一项公开会议的当地记录。
他甚至称长期以来一直是民主党堡垒的富尔顿为“美国选民欺诈之都”
他的对手苏珊·奥普拉秀(Susan Opraseuth)同样抨击了“一场违宪的选举”，但她抛出了自己的局外人身份，即凯利无法反驳的反体制身份。“我们目前的轨迹需要改变，”她说，遵循特朗普在2016年使用的路线图，坎普在2018年遵循的路线图。
在奥普拉秀的代表对凯利获胜的结果提出异议后，主席的选举需要两轮投票。然后，她赢得了第二个记录。一路上，奥普拉秀的代表们大喊“作弊”，而凯利的支持者们沮丧地挤在一起。
该州主席谢弗说，当地的争论不应该掩盖他所说的坎普的强硬立场。
主席将州长与拉芬斯珀格区分开，后者的说法在周六多次遭到嘘声。
“州长只是履行了部长的职责，”谢弗说，他指的是一旦拉芬伯格证明民主党获胜，州法律要求坎普批准拜登的选举团名单。相反，拉芬伯格在选举前利用自己的职位扩大缺席投票的机会，特朗普、谢弗和其他人坚持认为这为欺诈打开了大门。
如果有什么可以弥合共和党内部分歧的话，那就是民主党提名投票权倡导者斯泰西·艾布拉姆斯参加2018年的再次竞选。在富尔顿大会上，艾布拉姆斯的名字可能比任何一个共和党人都要出名。
“我们必须和艾布拉姆斯机器较量，”雷夫勒在开场白中说道。“如果我们放松，他们会赢的。”
但这位前参议员并没有参与选择当地共和党官员或决定是否谴责她的共和党同僚的紧张工作。说话后不久，她就离开了大楼。
Republicans talk unity in Georgia but censure Kemp, others
ALPHARETTA, Ga. -- Kelly Loeffler had a warning.
The former U.S. senator from Georgia, defeated in a January runoff amid Republican infighting, told her hometown GOP committee Saturday that only a unified party can avoid a repeat in the 2022 midterms.
“What I saw in my campaign is that we need to do better. We just need to get to work doing it,” Loeffler told Fulton County Republicans at their annual convention.
Yet Republicans can’t seem to get past 2020.
In the hours after Loeffler’s plea, at least 10 local party committees voted to condemn Gov. Brian Kemp, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger or both for not helping overturn PresidentDonald Trump’s November defeat. Two counties already had done so. Additionally, Georgia GOP Chairman David Shafer eagerly noted in his rounds to local conventions that he’s sued “a Republican secretary of state.” And in Fulton County, the state’s most populous, a flood of new delegates ousted several incumbent officers despite their pledged fealty to Trump.
The tension reflects the former president’s ever-tightening grip on the Republican Party and suggests that even unabashed conservatives like Kemp are at the mercy of continued finger-pointing and competition to be the loudest echoes for Trump’s false assertion of a rigged 2020election.
Kemp and Raffensperger were both the targets of Trump’s ire after they certified DemocratJoe Biden’s narrow win in Georgia. Some counties added demands that Raffensperger resign.
A Kemp aide focused on how few counties out of 159 have formally condemned the governor, saying he's “grateful” for grassroots support and looks forward to a primary campaign where he can tout his “successful record.” A Raffensperger aide did not respond to a request for comment.
Indeed, the pair staved off some condemnations. Gwinnett County, part of the metro Atlanta core, voted down the measures. A handful of other counties, including Fulton, censured Raffensperger but had no floor vote at all on Kemp. Other counties avoided votes altogether when they adjourned because too few delegates remained to conduct business after long days.
The trend nonetheless shows Kemp has work to do to shore up his right flank ahead of 2022.
“I’m disappointed in Kemp, and I’d absolutely consider someone else,” said Ruth Anne Tatum, a retired Alpharetta schoolteacher who was among the scores of first-time delegates to attend the Fulton County convention.
Tatum said she traveled to Washington for the Jan. 6 rally in which Trump addressed supporters before some of them stormed the U.S. Capitol as Congress tallied Biden’s Electoral College victory. She said she was not among the insurrectionists but argued that the event has been unfairly pinned on Trump.
“I’m so tired of all the lies and the corruption and the cheating,” Tatum said, pointing at Democrats and Republicans alike. “All of them,” she said.
Debbie Dooley, an activist who helped organize the resolutions, said the votes are enough to show Kemp faces a “divided grassroots” that should make establishment Republicans nervous.
Indeed, Kemp's 2022 prospects aren't just about whether he can win nomination for a second term. He remains a solid favorite. His only opponent thus far, Vernon Jones, is a former Democrat best known as an outspoken Black supporter of Trump. And Kemp boosted his standing by signing the recent Georgia election law overhaul and defending it against criticism from liberals and corporate leaders.
Yet Trump’s loss — followed by Loeffler’s and Sen. David Perdue’s losses in January — show how perilous a Trump-branded party is in Georgia. Distancing yourself from Trump costs votes within the GOP core, while hugging Trump too tightly juices the left and costs votes in the middle, especially among moderates in metro Atlanta.
“I don’t know what it’s going to take to get past it,” said Trey Kelly after he lost his bid for another term as Fulton GOP chair. Earlier, he'd stood behind a sign dubbing Georgia “Trump country” and declared loudly to 330 delegates — a local record for an open convention, according to party officials — that “the 2020 election was stolen.”
He even called Fulton, long a Democratic bastion, “the U.S. capital of voter fraud.”
His opponent, Susan Opraseuth, likewise panned “an unconstitutional election,” but she threw in her outsider, anti-establishment status that Kelly couldn’t counter. “Our current trajectory demands change,” she said, following the roadmap Trump used in 2016 and that Kemp followed in 2018.
The chair's election required two rounds of voting after Opraseuth delegates disputed results that showed Kelly prevailing. She then won a second tally. Along the way came shouts of “cheating” by Opraseuth delegates, while Kelly’s establishment supporters huddled in frustration.
Shafer, the state chairman, said local wrangles shouldn’t obscure what he says is a strong position for Kemp.
The chairman differentiated the governor from Raffensperger, whose mention was booed repeatedly Saturday.
“The governor fulfilled a ministerial role only,” Shafer said, referring to state law requiring that Kemp ratify Biden’s Electoral College slate once Raffensperger certified the Democrat’s victory. Raffensperger, alternately, used his post before the election to expand absentee ballot access in ways Trump, Shafer and others insist opened the outcome to fraud.
If there’s anything that could stitch the internal GOP fissures, it could be Democrats nominating voting rights advocate Stacey Abrams for a rematch of 2018. At the Fulton convention, Abrams name flowed from the stage perhaps more than any Republican.
“We have to take on the Abrams machine,” Loeffler declared in her opening remarks. “If we let up, they’re gonna win.”
But the former senator wasn’t around for the tense work of choosing her local GOP officers or deciding whether to condemn her fellow Republicans. Soon after speaking, she left the building.
