PERRY。-早期的回报唐纳德·特朗普周六，佐治亚州展示了他支持的2022年共和党初选候选人的三人票，这是他的一次签名集会。但是，特朗普支持的候选人的共和党反对者在佐治亚州并没有退缩，一些人说，这位前总统的点头可能会总体上伤害共和党选举处于高度分裂的状态。
特朗普的支持闪电战是一次坦率的尝试，旨在继续以他的形象重塑该党，共和党人急切地寻求他的支持。圣地亚哥大学政治学教授凯西·多明格斯说，但和前总统的其他一切一样，这是一种改写规则的方法。
多明戈斯说:“近年来，我们还没有看到总统试图在自己的党内制造分裂，这就是初选中发生的情况。"他在党内玩弄派系政治。"
很容易理解为什么他们可能想要特朗普的支持。他在共和党选民中保持压倒性的支持。追踪特朗普支持情况的Ballotpedia表示，自2017年以来，他支持的候选人在43场竞争性初选中赢得了37场。
特朗普在亚特兰大以南约100英里(160公里)的佩里参加了集会，他已经认可了三名候选人，包括赫歇尔·沃克，他最近发起了一场参议院竞选。特朗普敦促这位前足球巨星挑战美国民主党参议员拉斐尔·沃诺克。
在参加竞选以来的首次公开露面中，沃克周六谈到了他与特朗普的关系，但也敦促他的听众“作为一个民族走到一起”，不要因为“别人不同意你的意见”而对别人感到不安。
美国众议员乔迪·希奇也发表了讲话，他是特朗普对佐治亚州国务卿布拉德·拉芬斯佩格的选择。虽然拉芬斯珀格拒绝了这位前总统的请求，即“找到”足够的选票来推翻特朗普在佐治亚州以微弱劣势输给民主党总统乔·拜登，但希奇反对佐治亚州的国会选举人。
完成三人组的是州参议员伯特·琼斯，他是特朗普的早期支持者，推动了推翻拜登在佐治亚州获胜的措施，并正在竞选副州长。
然而，这次集会完全是关于特朗普的，他仍然是自己节目中的明星，因为许多支持者穿着特朗普的服装前来。
尽管缺乏可信的证据来支持特朗普关于大规模选民欺诈的指控，但这位前总统继续推进他赢得的“弥天大谎”，将其变成了对共和党候选人的试金石。尽管数十名州和地方选举官员、多名法官和特朗普自己的司法部长表示拜登赢得了公平的选举，但大多数共和党选民仍然认为选举是偷来的。
尽管特朗普的支持筛选了一些主要领域，但这种情况在佐治亚州并没有发生。
沃克将面对另外三名共和党人，包括州农业专员加里·布莱克。布莱克攻击了沃克，说他未经测试。周一，布莱克推出了55名州议员的支持，超过了76名县治安官、前州长内森·迪尔和前美国众议员道格·柯林斯的支持，后者曾是特朗普的最爱。
“成为足球运动员赫歇尔·沃克的粉丝是可以的，”布莱克说。“但也可以想赢回参议院，把我们的国家从现在的混乱中拯救出来。格鲁吉亚人需要一个可以当选的人选，能够对抗全国民主党，并在攻击性广告中获得1亿美元或更多。”
琼斯将自己描述为初选中的失败者，对手是一位强大的商业支持的州参议员，但他最近表示，这位前总统的支持“将是一个相当响亮的内部通话，说这是一个真正会为他的选民挺身而出，为保守价值观挺身而出的人。”
不过，特朗普的点头可能会成为大选的一个不利因素。今年1月，特朗普在佐治亚州以微弱劣势落败，共和党人凯利·洛夫勒和大卫·珀杜在参议院席位的决选中以更大优势输给了民主党人拉斐尔·沃诺克和乔恩·奥索夫。包括一些共和党人在内的许多人表示，特朗普坚持声称2020年11月的选举被操纵，这压低了共和党的决选投票率，将美国参议院的控制权交给了民主党。
同样在2022年竞选国务卿的民主党州众议员比·阮(Bee Nguyen)表示，特朗普的支持是他对一些共和党人“仇杀”的一部分。Nguyen表示，特朗普的活动将激起民主党选民的不满，共和党今年通过的限制性选举法也是如此。
“它将继续动员我们的基础，因为我们的基础明白投票权是砧板上的肉，”阮说，他还预测，“不断抹黑11月选举结果的努力”会激怒民主党人。
一些共和党人也这么认为。共和党顾问保罗·舒马克在6月份的一份备忘录中指出，民调显示，北卡罗来纳州的选民不太可能支持特朗普支持的候选人，而更有可能投票给拜登支持的候选人。
舒马克写道:“当将特朗普支持的候选人与拜登支持的候选人进行比较时，我们与无党派选民的优势就消失了。“此外，民主党的优势随着大学毕业生和郊区选民的增加而扩大，而农村选民对共和党的支持有所减弱。”
舒马克正在为前北卡罗来纳州州长帕特·麦克罗伊工作，他将在共和党参议院初选中与特朗普支持的美国众议员泰德·巴德竞争，以取代即将退休的理查德·伯尔。舒马克说，这项民意调查不是由麦克罗伊支付的。
政党领导人历来回避干涉初选，当他们这样做时，有时会适得其反。1938年，富兰克林·德拉诺·罗斯福进行干预，支持自由派，击败反对他的议程的保守派。罗斯福的记录显然好坏参半。佐治亚州参议员沃尔特·乔治(Walter George)等保守的民主党现任者幸存下来，共和党人总体上获得了巨大收益。
例如，前总统巴拉克·奥巴马等到去年初选结束后才批准。但一些自由派人士试图通过初选支持来塑造民主党，包括独立的佛蒙特州参议员伯尼·桑德斯和纽约州民主党众议员亚历山大·奥卡西奥-科尔特斯。
然后是不在特朗普候选人名单上的佐治亚州共和党高层——州长布莱恩·坎普。前民主党人弗农·琼斯公开向特朗普示好，但这位前总统拒绝支持他，而特朗普的支持者则提出了其他可能的候选人。
尽管特朗普继续蔑视坎普，但现任州长可能会与一些特朗普支持的候选人缓和关系。
沃克从坎普的办公室聘请了一名发言人，一个可能的指标是沃克可能会避开攻击坎普。他早期的信息比特朗普更积极，对抗性更小。
坎普在9月13日的一次活动中与希克一起出现，批评拜登政府的立法议程。坎普当时表示希望共和党能够团结一致反对。
坎普说:“党需要团结起来，我们不需要分裂。“这在2020年对我们不起作用。”
Georgia rally marks debut of GOP primary 'Trump ticket'
PERRY, Ga. -- The rewards of an earlyDonald Trumpendorsement were on display Saturday in Georgia when a three-man ticket of candidates he's backing in 2022 Republican primaries were featured at one of his signature rallies. But GOP opponents of Trump-backed candidates aren't folding in Georgia and some say the former president's nod could hurt Republicans in a generalelectionin the closely divided state.
Trump's endorsement blitz is a frank attempt to keep remaking the party in his image, with Republicans eagerly courting his favor. But like everything else about the former president, it's a rule-rewriting approach, said Casey Dominguez, a political science professor at the University of San Diego.
“We haven't seen presidents in recent years try to drive a wedge within their own party, which is what happens in a primary election,” Dominguez said. “He's playing factional politics in the party.”
It's easy to see why they might want Trump's backing. He maintains overwhelming support among Republican voters. Ballotpedia, which tracks Trump endorsements, says candidates he endorsed have won 37 of 43 competitive primaries since 2017.
Trump was joined at the rally in Perry, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of Atlanta by three candidates he has endorsed, including Herschel Walker, who recently launched a Senate campaign. Trump had urged the former football great to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock.
In one of his first public appearances since entering the race, Walker on Saturday talked about his relationship with Trump, but also urged his listeners to “come together as a people” and not be upset with others “because they disagree with you.”
Also speaking was U.S. Rep Jody Hice, Trump’s choice against Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. While Raffensperger refused the former president’s entreaties to "find" enough votes to overturn Trump’s narrow loss to Democratic President Joe Biden in Georgia, Hice objected to Georgia's electors in Congress.
Completing the trio is state Sen. Burt Jones, an early Trump supporter who pushed measures to overturn Biden’s Georgia win and is running for lieutenant governor.
The rally, though, was all about Trump, who remains the star of his own show as numerous supporters arrived wearing Trump gear.
Despite a lack of credible evidence to support Trump’s allegations of mass voter fraud, the former president has continued to push the “Big Lie” that he won, turning it into a litmus test for GOP candidates. A majority of Republican voters continue to believe the election was stolen, despite dozens of state and local elections officials, numerous judges and Trump’s own attorney general saying Biden won fairly.
Although some primary fields have been winnowed by Trump's endorsement, that hasn't happened in Georgia.
Walker faces three other Republicans including Gary Black, the state agriculture commissioner. Black has attacked Walker, saying he’s untested. On Monday, Black rolled out endorsements from 55 state lawmakers, laying them atop endorsements from 76 county sheriffs, former Gov. Nathan Deal and former U.S. Rep Doug Collins, a onetime Trump favorite.
“It's OK to be a fan of Herschel Walker the football player," Black said. “But it's also OK to want to win the Senate back and save our country from the chaos it's in now. Georgians need an electable choice who can stand up to the national Democrats and $100 million or more in attack ads.”
Jones describes himself as an underdog in his primary against a powerful business-backed state senator, but recently said the former president's backing “is going to be a pretty loud intercom saying this is a guy who will actually stand up for his constituents and stand up for conservative values.”
Trump's nod could be a liability in a general election, though. Trump lost narrowly in Georgia, and Republicans Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue lost runoffs for Senate seats to Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff by wider margins in January. Many, including some Republicans, have said Trump's insistent claims that the November 2020 election was rigged depressed GOP runoff turnout, delivering U.S. Senate control to Democrats.
Democratic State Rep. Bee Nguyen, who is also running for secretary of state in 2022, said Trump's endorsements are part of his “vendetta” against some Republicans. Nguyen said Trump's activity will stir up Democratic voters, as will a restrictive election law that Republicans passed this year.
“It will continue to mobilize our base because our base understands voting rights are on the chopping block,” said Nguyen, who also predicted that the “constant efforts to discredit the results of the November election” would fire up Democrats.
Some Republicans see it that way as well. GOP consultant Paul Shumaker noted in a June memo that polling showed voters in North Carolina were less likely to back a Trump-endorsed candidate and more likely to vote for a Biden-endorsed candidate.
“When comparing a Trump-endorsed candidate to a Biden-endorsed candidate, our advantage with the unaffiliated voters evaporates," Shumaker wrote. "In addition, the Democratic advantage widens with college graduates and suburban voters while the rural vote softens somewhat for Republicans.”
Shumaker is working for former North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory, who is running against Trump-endorsed U.S. Rep. Ted Budd in a Republican Senate primary to replace the retiring Richard Burr. Shumaker said the poll wasn't paid for by McCrory.
Party leaders historically shied away from interfering in primaries, and when they did, it sometimes backfired. In 1938, Franklin Delano Roosevelt intervened to support liberals and defeat conservatives who opposed his agenda. Roosevelt’s record was decidedly mixed. Conservative Democratic incumbents such as Georgia Sen. Walter George survived and Republicans made big gains overall.
Former President Barack Obama, for example, waited until primaries were settled last year before endorsing. But some liberals have tried to shape the Democratic party with primary endorsements, including independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Democratic U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.
Then there is the top Georgia Republican not on the Trump ticket — Gov. Brian Kemp. Former Democrat Vernon Jones is openly courting Trump's nod, but the former president has withheld his favor while Trump supporters have floated other possible candidates.
Despite Trump’s continuing scorn for Kemp, the incumbent governor may achieve a detente with some Trump-backed candidates.
Walker hired a spokesperson from Kemp's office, one possible indicator Walker may steer clear of attacking Kemp. His early message has been more positive and less confrontational than Trump.
Kemp appeared with Hice at a Sept. 13 event to criticize the Biden administration’s legislative agenda. Kemp voiced hope then that Republicans could unify in opposition.
“The party needs to come together, we don’t need to be divided," Kemp said. "That didn’t work for us in 2020.”
