Buddy Carter isn't picking sides in Georgia governor's race. He just wants GOP to beat Abrams.
Will PeeblesGeorgia's 2022 governor's race will be especially interesting, with two of the state's most prominent Republicans facing off in a primary ahead of a showdown with Democrat Stacey Abrams in the general election.
And 1st District Rep. Buddy Carter isn't picking sides in the GOP primary.
Carter says he respects both Gov. Brian Kemp and former Georgia Senator David Perdue, and considers them his friends. He was hoping it wouldn't come to this.
"I wish we could have avoided this. I think everybody wishes we could have avoided this. But it is what it is. And we were very fortunate to have two good candidates. I think Brian Kemp did a great job as governor. I think David Perdue did a great job as senator, and that if he were to be elected governor, he'd do a fine job there as well. Again, I wish we could have avoided this, but it is what it is. We have to face it. We're going to get through it.
"I talked to both of them the week that David announced and told them that the only commitment I ask of them is that when this is over with, when it's over and said and done, that we all come together as Republicans. That we make sure that we have a Republican in the governor's mansion after the next election," Carter said.
Perdue announced his candidacy in December, just days after Abrams formally announced her run. Perdue places the blame for Donald Trump's 2020 presidential loss in Georgia on Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and said he, not Kemp, is the candidate who can rally Republican voters and defeat Abrams in November.
"Look, I like Brian. This isn’t personal. It’s simple. He has failed all of us and cannot win in November," Perdue said. "Instead of protecting our elections, he caved to Abrams and cost us the Senate majority and gave Joe Biden free reign."
Perdue's assertion that Kemp "caved" is a reference to Kemp's certifying Georgia's election results and refusing to call a special session of the General Assembly to appoint electors to override the state's popular vote. Georgia law required Kemp to sign off on the results and prohibits him from manipulating the electoral process.
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The primary will cap a period of soul searching for Georgia's Republican voters. Since the 2020 election, amidst Trump's unsubstantiated voter fraud allegations, Georgia's GOP has seen a rift form between those who believe Trump and those who are ready to move ahead to the next election.
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Georgia's Republican senators made their voice clear on a Kemp-Perdue primary: 25 Georgia state senators, Savannah's Ben Watson among them, signed a letter asking Perdue not to challenge Kemp in the 2022 midterms.
. And at the end of the day, Carter said, as long as the nominee can beat Abrams, that's what matters.
"I will tell you that Stacey Abrams, who I served with when I was in the House of Representatives, and who was a different person back then, she represents the values of the state of Georgia about like the man on the moon," Carter said. "We do not need Stacey Abrams in the governor's mansion, that would be the worst thing that we could have for the state of Georgia. It would set us back up decades from what we have been able to achieve with the Republican leadership after 2020."
Will Peebles is the enterprise reporter for Savannah Morning News. He can be reached at wpeebles@gannett.com and @willpeeblessmn on Twitter.