ATLANTA — A year ago, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger was a pariah scorned by Donald Trump and his Republican allies who raced to blame him for the former president’s defeat.
Now he’s the comeback kid.
Raffensperger’s stunning upset victory over his Trump-backed adversary, U.S. Rep. Jody Hice, was the biggest surprise of a chaotic primary night.
Once written off for dead by the political establishment, Raffensperger turned the tables on Trump by resoundingly defeating Hice.
How did he do it?
— Raffensperger dipped into his own pockets to self-finance a campaign that sought to shift the narrative away from Trump’s attacks and toward his role in overseeing free and fair elections.
— His campaign strategy involved a spate of visits to Rotary Clubs and local civic organizations that aren’t havens for the “Stop the Steal” crowd. But he also didn’t shy away from countering far-right Trump supporters with the truth about elections.
— He benefited from Democratic voters who crossed over to the GOP primary to punish Trump-backed candidates. Party officials estimate about 40,000 voters likely to back Democratic candidates in November voted in GOP races.
— He leveraged the powers of incumbency even as he avoided further antagonizing Trump, telling reporters Tuesday his victory was no rebuke of the ex-president but “a direct compliment to the goodness of my fellow Georgians.”
— Hice ran an abysmal campaign. He mostly frequented small-scale GOP gatherings and far-right talk shows where he continually preached to the choir rather than expand his base. And he hoarded his cash expecting a runoff, which was a very bad bet in the end.
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