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VALDOSTA, Georgia – Before President Trump arrived on Saturday to rally for two Republican Senate candidates, the president made no attempt to conceal his central priority when it comes to Georgia: reversing his loss in the state . He started the day with a phone call with Governor Brian Kemp, apparently to offer his condolences for the death in a car crash of a young man close to Mr Kemp’s family.
But in truth, Mr. Trump used the call to urge Mr. Kemp, a Republican, to convene the state legislature so that Republican majorities can nominate new voters who would overthrow the will of voters in the State when the Electoral College meets in December. 14. He also asked Mr. Kemp to order a verification of the signatures on the ballots.
Republican Secretary of State for Georgia Brad Raffensperger on Sunday said holding a special session “would nullify the will of the people.”
“At the end of the day the voices of the people have been spoken,” he told ABC “This Week”. “I am also disappointed as a conservative Republican.”
At the rally, Mr. Trump amplified his criticism of Mr. Kemp for much of the day on Twitter, anything but demanding that the governor reverse the will of the voters for him. “Your governor could arrest him very easily if he knew what he was doing,” the president said. “Stop it very easily.”
The crowd booed when he invoked Mr Kemp and Mr Raffensperger, two officials whom Mr Trump demanded cheer on in his efforts to overthrow the state’s results.
And they applauded when he turned to Rep. Doug Collins, a Georgia Republican and Trump loyalist, and suggested he challenge Mr. Kemp in a primary for governor in 2022.
The president’s willingness to campaign on Saturday night in heavily conservative South Georgia – a far cry from Atlanta-area voters who rejected him last month – has comforted Republican officials, who pressured him to he intervenes in the second round in support of Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue. But Wizards worry, presciently, in the days leading up to the appearance that he would step out of the script and attack Mr. Kemp, who has become the main target of Mr. Trump’s Twitter vitriol.
Hoping to pacify Mr. Trump after Saturday’s phone call, Mr. Kemp noted on Twitter that he had already called for an audit of signatures on postal ballots “to restore confidence in our electoral process”. But Mr Kemp’s office also said the governor did not have the power to unilaterally order a signature audit.
Mr Raffensperger, a Tory who backed Mr Trump, said on Sunday his office had not found sufficient evidence of fraud that would overturn the election results.
Mr Perdue and Ms Loeffler called for Mr Raffensperger’s resignation, calling the handling of the elections in Georgia “troublesome”. Raffensperger said on Sunday that he still “absolutely” supports senators.
“The job of the Republican Party is to raise money and vote,” he said. “My job as Secretary of State is to make sure we have honest and fair elections. It’s that simple. And I think in my office integrity matters.
The State party has failed to raise enough money and mobilize enough people, he said. He also said that these “distractions” and “disunity” would make it more difficult for Republican candidates.
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