Trump casts shadow over Lt. Governor's race
Trump casts shadow over Lt. Governor's race
July 18, 2022
Also in today’s edition of Swing State Georgia:
Ossoff wants to talk to Manchin.
Warnock’s health plans may get featured.
The huge money in one Georgia U.S. House race.
We’re still watching the fallout in Georgia from the bombshell development last week that informed state Sen. Burt Jones - the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor - that he could face criminal charges for his role as a phony GOP elector for Donald Trump in 2020.
Democrats hope the scrutiny from a special grand jury investigating Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 loss in Georgia will come back to haunt Jones in his November matchup against Democrat Charlie Bailey.
Bailey had already made Jones’ role supporting Trump’s “Stop the Steal” efforts a focus of his campaign.
Meanwhile, Jones’ campaign filed a motion seeking to disqualify D.A. Fani Willis from the case because she hosted a fundraiser for Bailey’s LG bid earlier this year.
“This is clearly a politically motivated attack from the same District Attorney who just weeks ago hosted a political fundraiser for Burt’s opponent,” said a Jones spokesman.
MORE TARGETS. Along with Jones, Georgia GOP Chairman David Shafer has also been told he could be charged over the fake elector effort.
Shafer and Jones were part of the slate of 16 Republican electors who cast fake Electoral College ballots for Trump in a sham ceremony at the Georgia Capitol on Dec. 14, 2020.
Shafer has already testified about the scheme to the Jan. 6 committee on Capitol Hill, reportedly telling the panel that the Trump campaign pressed Georgia Republicans to move forward with the elector scheme.
The other fake GOP electors might want to watch their mailbox this week as well.
Swing State's paid subscribers receive text alerts from our reporting team. See below for how to sign up.CLIMATE CHANGES. The push by Democrats to act on climate change remains a rocky road.
U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff touted a $171 million Qcells expansion in Dalton on Friday that will create nearly 500 new jobs and, Ossoff said, better position Georgia for a wave of new green jobs.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Swing State Georgia to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.