Trump endorses another Georgia Republican candidate who says the 2020 election was stolen

Former President Donald Trump has endorsed Georgia lawyer and businessman John Gordon in the Republican primary race for Georgia attorney general. Gordon, who ran unsuccessfully for state Senate seat in 2018, announced his primary challenge to incumbent Republican Attorney General Chris Carr on March 12.

“Great news for Georgia! A very successful Businessman and Attorney, John Gordon, will be running against ‘Do Nothing’ Attorney General Chris Carr. As everyone in the Great State of Georgia is aware, Carr did absolutely nothing to stop the 2020 Presidential Election Fraud which, as facts have shown, and are showing, was rampant,” Trump said a statement released late Tuesday announcing the endorsement.

In his campaign launch video, which was removed from YouTube over violations of its policies and resurfaced on Vimeo, Gordon claims that Georgia’s 2020 presidential election was “rife with fraud, fraud that cost President Trump his victory.”

In a string of appearances on right-wing radio shows after launching his campaign, Gordon blamed his primary opponent, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, and Republican Gov. Brian Kemp for Joe Biden’s victory in Georgia.

“I have seen the evidence, I have spoken to the witnesses, I have watched the video tapes, I have consulted with our expert forensic accountants, I have talked to our expert witnesses — there is no question in my mind that Donald Trump won Georgia,” Gordon told Gainesville, Georgia, website AccessWDUN.

Kemp, Carr, and Raffensperger are all incumbent Republicans opposed by Trump because they refused to help him steal the 2020 election. Kemp certified Biden’s win in the state despite public pressure from Trump not to do so; Raffensperger refused Trump’s demand that the secretary of state “find” enough votes to overturn the Georgia election results; and Carr actively opposed a lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in December 2020 aimed at invalidating the results of the election in Georgia and a number of other states.

In a statement attacking “Big Tech” after his campaign launch video was taken down by YouTube for violating the company’s ban on “content that advances false claims that widespread fraud, errors, or glitches changed the outcome of the U.S. 2020 presidential election,” Gordon said, “I’ve spent the last year exposing and litigating the election fraud of 2020. As Attorney General, I will immediately open an official investigation to hold Carr and those responsible accountable.”

Corey Lewandowski, who served as the first manager of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, is a consultant to Gordon’s campaign. Lewandowski, formerly a close Trump ally, was removed in September 2021 from his role managing Trump’s super PAC, Make America Great Action, and banned from Trump properties after news broke that he had been accused of sexually harassing a Republican Party donor.

Trump has now endorsed candidates for all four of Georgia’s highest executive offices, all of whom deny that he lost the election. In addition to Gordon, Trump has endorsed former Sen. David Perdue for governor, Rep. Jody Hice for secretary of state, and state Sen. Burt Jones for lieutenant governor.

Trump plans to hold a rally in Commerce, Georgia, on March 26 in support of his chosen candidates. The Georgia Republican primaries are seen by observers as an indicator of Trump’s influence over the party: Former Georgia state Rep. Brett Harrell told Politico in February, “I am hearing more and more people gradually move on to the next election, and what the future holds.”

Voters in Georgia go to the polls on May 24.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.