Patricia Murphy and Greg Bluestein are political reporters for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Murphy joined the AJC in 2020 and came from CQ Roll Call, where she was a nationally syndicated political columnist. Bluestein covers the governors office and Georgia politics, and is author of Flipped, a book on Georgia’s epic 2020 election. I read whatever they write.

Today, in the Jolt at the AJC, they headlined their joint article this way: GOP rivals’ big push: Ban Abortion, dump Herschel, ‘prosecute’ educators for CRT.

Early voting and vote by mail (for those over 65 and military) began last week with the election happening on May 24. Trump is in the center of this election and has had rallies (about himself, of course) and taken over the airwaves with one endorsement after another. As I’m writing these words, I just heard three commercials by Trump endorsing three different candidates.

There is much at stake in this election and the general election in November. Here are some key foci to keep an eye on.

Ban Abortion

The leader of the “ban abortion” idea in Georgia is former Senator David Perdue, Donald Trump‘s favorite candidate running against Governor Brian Kemp. Kemp, like Brad Raffensperger, Georgia secretary of state is in Trump’s dog house for refusing to break the law and change the outcome of the 2020 election. Perdue, like many politicians, expressed his opinion on the leaked Supreme Court case on abortion. Perdue has called for a special legislative session to outlaw all abortion if Row v. Wade is overturned. Kemp has refused to support this idea. Stacy Abrams, Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate said if Row v. Wade is overturned, then

“Let’s understand what this is really about. They are working their hardest to strip our federal government of any dominion over our rights.”

Patricia Murphy, Greg Bluestein. (2022, May 9). The jolt: GOP rivals’ big push: Ban abortion, dump Herschel, ‘prosecute’ educators for CRT. AJC. Retrieved May 9, 2022, from https://www.ajc.com/politics/politics-blog/the-jolt-gop-rivals-big-push-ban-abortion-dump-herschel-prosecute-educators-for-crt/TFE7HPNYNZDGRBX3X6EUA3NQ7Y/?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=campaign_4236906

Dump Herschel

GOPers, especially those running in the primary against Herschel Walker, warned that frontrunner Walker is doomed if he wins the primary (May 24) to run against Sen. Raphael Warnock. They put it this way:

“We’ve got to have this discussion as a family right now. It’s better to say, ‘Oh my,’ right now than ‘Oh no’ in June,” said Black. “Because if he’s a candidate of this party, he will lose. The race will be about him and his deficiencies.”

Patricia Murphy & Greg Bluestein. (2022, May 9). The jolt: GOP rivals’ big push: Ban abortion, dump Herschel, ‘prosecute’ educators for CRT. AJC.

‘Prosecute’ Educators for teaching CRT

The Trump backed GOPer for attorney general is John Gordon. He was a lawyer, but had to renew his license and come out of retirement to push Trump’s false claims that the Georgia election was stolen from him. This guy (Gordon) said that if he ousted the current AG (Chris Carr), he would do the following:

“I’m gonna protect your children. We’re not going to allow CRT and gender identity to be teached (sic.) and propagated in our schools. I will enjoin them. I will prosecute them as child abusers if they try to do it.”

Murphy &Bluestein. (2022, May 9). The jolt: GOP rivals’ big push: Ban abortion, dump Herschel, ‘prosecute’ educators for CRT. AJC.