ARIZONA, USA — In Georgia, where the stakes are high for two senate elections next month, billboards are up invoking Gov. Doug Ducey as a warning to voters that Republicans can’t be trusted.
After President Donald Trump turned on Ducey, the president retweeted the message: Why bother voting for Republicans if what you get is Ducey and Kemp?
It’s a reference to Ducey’s decision to certify Arizona’s election results, which was carried out according to state law but was against Trump’s wishes.
“I think what it says is if you disagree publicly with Donald Trump on one significant issue…if you cross him one time, you are toast,” said Chris Herstam, a former Republican majority leader at the state legislature who is now a Democrat and political consultant.
Democrats in Georgia are using Trump’s attack in an attempt to dissuade Republicans from voting for their own.
Meanwhile, Arizona’s State GOP Party continues to attack Ducey. The organization’s official Twitter account accused Ducey of “surrendering to the mob and abandoning our great president.”
Another tweet suggested Ducey betrayed Americans because he worked with Secretary of State Katie Hobbs to secure millions of dollars for enhanced election measures during the pandemic.
“I don’t think it’s ever been a party in such disarray as it is now,” Herstam said.
“Basically the majority of Republican activists through Kelli Ward, the majority of elected congressmen, and majority of elected legislators all say the ends justify the means. We’ll do anything we can do keep Donald Trump in power.”
Ducey is still popular among Republican governors, who elected him this week as chair of their national association.
Ducey also has a local ally in Republican House Speaker Rusty Bowers, who in an impassioned plea to fellow Republicans, wrote, “I voted for President Trump… but I cannot and will not entertain a suggestion that we violate current law to change the outcome of a certified election.”
