• TrueStoryBob@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    I live in Georgia, Walz isn’t going to get the hardcore Fox News and MAGA idiots. However, I could see more than a few Kemp voters (basically, moderate conservatives who went Ossoff twice and Warnock thrice) going for Harris/Walz. Further, suburban Atlanta has a lot of people turned right the fuck off by JD Vance. He’s definitely viewed by a lot of OTP folks as yet another crazy person either hand picked and/or enthusiastically endorsed by Trump (like Loeffler, Purdue, and Walker… people felt like these three idiots were forced upon us by Trump). Those people probably won’t vote Harris/Walz, but they just might not show up or, if they do, they might leave the top of the ballot blank. Trump knows his electorate and knows how to play to them, but he doesn’t get Georgia. Kemp is the key to understanding this.

    Our governor is Republican Brian Kemp… he’s definitely on the right wing of the party, not a moderate by any stretch of the imagination, but he’s a savvy son of a bitch when it comes to elections in this state. The vibe check on him is: sexist/racist/homophobic uncle who diplomatically holds his tongue at Thanksgiving even if others don’t and things get heated. He believes some wild shit, but keeps it to himself in mixed company (read: armchair racist).

    He’s quietly distanced himself from Trump for nearly a decade now. Never pushing the former president away, but never fully embracing him either. Trump and Kemp have a love/hate relationship; Kemp needs the far right MAGA idiots to keep voting for him, but Trump can’t find the center of Georgia politics anymore. In 2020, Biden found that center when 11,780 moderates held their noses and voted for him because Trump was embarrassing them. Having Walz lead the charge on messaging and stump speeches is the best card the Harris team can play in the state if they want to win it… in Georgian statewide politics, Kemp could stump hard and barely beat Harris, but still win. However, he’s got nothing to put up against someone like Walz. Walz, as a person, is literally the kind of voter Kemp courts.

    Kemp campaigning against Walz looks like this: Who do you like more? The uncle who’s nice, but you know he’s talking shit about your gay kid on the car ride home OR the coach at the local school who’s nice to everybody and thinks your kid has real talent. Who would you vote for? That’s the reason Georgia is at a statistical tie right now.