Late, late, late in the process, when a lot of people had already voted, when it wasn’t likely to matter much anyway, the two figures who have loomed over this year’s Republican primaries weighed in with endorsements.
At 1 a.m. Sunday morning, in the middle of an action-packed weekend, President Donald Trump posted his formal endorsement of Rep. Mike Collins, “who has been with me from the very beginning,” in his runoff U.S. Senate race with Derek Dooley.
You can be forgiven if you thought this had happened already. Collins wrapped himself around Trump so tightly, this endorsement seemed obvious. But as long as Rep. Buddy Carter was trumpeted his ties to Trump, it was also uncomfortable. That problem went away when Gov. Brian Kemp’s Senate choice, former coach Derek Dooley, edged out Carter to get in this runoff with Collins. Trump had no trouble taking a shot at Dooley, but only after Collins appeared to have the race won.
It was a bigger surprise Sunday when Kemp endorsed Lt. Gov. Burt Jones in the governor’s race.
If you view Trump’s late endorsement of Collins as a swipe at Kemp’s candidate, then perhaps Kemp’s endorsement of Trump’s candidate in the governor’s race could be seen as a strategic deflection. Maybe, maybe not. Maybe Kemp was irked by the Jackson ads featuring him saying nice things about the billionaire candidate.
The larger question, as it turns out, is whether any of this makes any difference. It arrived the following day in the form of an InsiderAdvantage poll, which showed Jones, the candidate now endorsed by both the president and the governor, trailing newcomer Rick Jackson by three percentage points. Interestingly, the same poll showed Collins leading Dooley by only two points, a closer race than the Trump endorsement might have suggested.
The Kemp endorsement prompted the polling firm to go back out in the field one last time, and Monday night it posted results that are likely to be seen as a barometer of both the president’s and the governor’s influence.
In this last poll, Jackson’s lead had diminished to a statistically insignificant, single point. The margin between Collins and Dooley in the Senate race remained at two points, but Collins’ number had risen to 50 percent, considered a very positive indication for a candidate.
No matter where he finishes Tuesday, Jackson has mounted one of the most remarkable campaigns in Georgia political history with this race, coming from relative obscurity to all the familiar that $108 million can buy in a matter of months.
The New York Times reminded us how much we still have to learn about Jackson over the weekend with a story about Jackson’s career as an indie movie producer. It’s doubtful most voters even knew about his involvement in several low-budget, mostly religious films.
According to the Times, Jackson has sought some $90 million in tax deductions from four films that were money losers.
“I respect Gov. Kemp very much. I think people are ready for an outsider, that’s what they want and that’s why we’re going to win tomorrow,” Jackson said after Kemp endorsed his rival. On Monday he posted a message from Donald Trump Jr.:
“Regardless of what happens in the Georgia Governor’s race tomorrow, we should celebrate the patriots building up MAGA and an America First economy like Rick Jackson has,” the president’s son wrote.
We’ll see if he can hold that lead on Tuesday.
Leave a comment