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“I am a Republican and a Conservative. And I think I’m going to be disappointed, because I don’t believe my candidate is going to win, “Raffensperger said in an interview this week, before Georgia certified their results. “But that said, I want 100% of people to be confident in the results. I will not like it. And I’m going to have to take this medicine, like everyone else in my group will, but it will be an accurate count.
Raffensperger has said he will run for another term in 2022, although other Republicans “probably have the idea” of beating him in the primaries now, he said. “And for the moment, the emotions are quite strong. It will be what it is. I’ll do my job. And my accounts are with the Georgians who put me in office here, and really with all the Georgians.
He gets air support. Republicans for Rule of Law, a group that opposed Trump, recently launched a half-million dollar advertising campaign in the state which thanks Raffensperger for organizing a “textbook election under extraordinary circumstances”.
“Look, it’s a sad reality that in the Trump days, with the exception of a few precious ones, it was tough for Republicans who stood their ground and sided with the truth, against the president.” said Sarah Longwell, “It may do him political damage, but I think it’s to his credit – as a human being and as a Republican – that he’ll speak the truth no matter what. come.”
Trump encouraged opposition to Raffensperger, calling him a RINO in a tweet and the amplification of GOP Sens calls. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler for Raffensperger to resign.
A mere mention in Trump’s Twitter thread can have serious consequences for the safety and mental health of public servants, beyond their political considerations.
The threats “started off pretty broadly,” said Al Schmidt, Republican Election Commissioner in Philadelphia. “But unfortunately after the president tweeted my name there were more, and they were much more specific in nature. So, referring to my kids and what they’re going to do to them.
Like Raffensperger, the president tweeted about Schmidt, also calling it a RINO and saying that he “refuses to look at a mountain of corruption and dishonesty.” Schmidt said he now had a city security guard to protect him and his family.
“It’s not just me, it’s also my staff, the other Commissioners,” Schmidt said. The threats are not new either. Many election officials have dealt with them for months.
Election officials across the country reported receiving threats for doing their job. “There are those, including the president, members of Congress and other elected officials, who perpetuate disinformation and encourage others to circumscribe election results in a way that violates the oath they have taken,” Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, said in a report. “Their words and their actions have consequences.”
Even those who took the relatively prosaic step of making it easier to vote in the midst of a pandemic – like Kentucky Republican Secretary of State Michael Adams – were not immune. Adams worked with Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear to dramatically expand access to voting for his state’s June primaries, earning him bipartisan praise within the state and in the general election.
But he said he has also faced Republican criticism for his efforts, as Trump ranted over the once controversial non-controversial practice of postal voting – as national numbers and prominent Democrats like LeBron James and Hillary Clinton criticized the state for leaving a low number of voting centers open (leaving out details like the expansion of postal voting). This led to abusive calls clogging the phone lines of election officials. Adams also noted that he took a significant political risk.
“I took immense heat for my decisions on how to make our elections safe and successful, but notice no one is claiming that I made these decisions in my own political interest or that of someone else.” , does he have tweeted in august. “Show me the door in 2023, but by then I will act according to my knowledge and conscience.”
Raffensperger of Georgia insists he is not embarrassed by the attacks on him and said he has the support of supporters at the base.
“Really, a lot of grassroots Republicans. Ronald Reagan type Republicans, conservatives, “are with me,” Raffensberger said. “People who can be objective and fair, and who don’t let outside forces run them.”
Schmidt of Philadelphia said he was less concerned with his own political future than with eroding trust in the democratic system.
“I am concerned, I would say, for the future of our country in some ways,” Schmidt said. “Obviously, I am concerned about the party and its future. But more broadly, the damage done to our electoral system.
Schmidt, who was re-elected for a third term in 2019 and will not be re-elected until 2023, said: “I really haven’t thought about” if he would run again. But he spoke at length about the deterioration in confidence in the US election.
There is a phrase ‘there is no Republican or Democratic way to fix a pothole,’ he said. ‘There shouldn’t be a Republican or Democratic way of counting a vote.”
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