ATLANTA — Former President Donald Trump is escalating his support for former U.S. Sen. David Perdue's uphill battle against Gov. Brian Kemp in Georgia.
Trump will host a tele-rally for Perdue on Monday to kick off the three-week early voting period, and the former president might yet return to the state for a third in-person rally to attack Kemp before the May 24 primary.
Perdue will take all the help he can get from the former president. He trails the governor by a wide margin — 53-27 — in the latest Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll and lags him in fundraising and endorsements.
And Kemp is taking every step he can to avoid an unpredictable June runoff that could further divide the GOP ahead of a November match-up against Democrat Stacey Abrams.
In the last few days, Kemp has celebrated the National Rifle Association's endorsement, rallied with law enforcement officers, approved an election measure sought by Trump loyalists and traveled to Perdue's hometown to sign into law a sharp income tax cut.
And in recent weeks, he's maneuvered to solidify his conservative support by inking an expansive pro-gun measure and orchestrating a vote to tap Sonny Perdue — David Perdue's first cousin — as the chancellor of the higher education system.
Kemp has built his edge over Perdue despite the aggressive intervention from Trump. The former president staged a late March rally for Perdue, cut a TV ad promoting his endorsement and held a fundraiser at his Florida estate to help replenish his coffers.
Trump's PAC also recently spent $500,000 boosting Perdue's campaign, and Trump-aligned outside groups booked roughly $2 million in airtime. Perdue's allies are seeking even more late help from Trump, whose PAC boasts more than $120 million.
The former president has blamed Kemp for his defeat since he refused to call a special legislative session and declined to take other steps to overturn Joe Biden's victory in Georgia.
Throughout his campaign, Perdue has promoted Trump's lies about widespread election fraud and has more recently claimed that he also didn't lose to Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff.
The election wasn't stolen. Three separate tallies upheld Biden's narrow victory, an audit of absentee ballot signatures in Cobb County found no cases of fraud, court challenges by Trump allies were squashed, and bipartisan officials — including Trump's attorney general — confirmed the results.
