Coastal Georgia U.S. House race: Is Herring a centrist? Is Carter a 'Trump surrogate?'

With Georgia's historic Democratic flip in the 2020 election, the state’s political landscape changed for 2022.

For proof, see the First District U.S. House race between political newcomer Wade Herring, a Democrat, and long-serving GOP incumbent Buddy Carter.

Herring is campaigning as a centrist, a strategy aimed at pulling over Republicans who may have been dismayed by Rep. Carter’s vote against the certification of the election results in January 2021. 

And Carter, who has never experienced a close re-election race since he first won his post on Capitol Hill in 2014, is waving his Donald Trump endorsement like a banner, albeit while still quietly criticizing the former president for his tone.

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In a political environment that has driven voters to the fringes of the party lines, it is an oddity that two candidates are targeting voters in the middle.

“I love President Trump's policies. You've heard me say it before, I believe he's right on policy; wrong on tone," Carter said. "I loved his policies, and I continue to love them. I think he was spot on. We had the economy humming. We had things going in this country.”

Countered Herring: “I think part of the problem in Washington is people have fallen in love with the sound bite, and they're worshipping at the altar of problems, because that gives them something to talk about, rather than solve the problem. So let's work on solving problems. If you're gonna require me to put a label on myself, I would describe it as more centrist.”

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The 2020 election's aftermath

President Joe Biden’s popular vote win in the 2020 general election seemingly carved a path to success for center-left candidates. But then Biden was running against the highly divisive Trump, whose rhetoric gave Georgia’s left-of-center voters, and a few centrists, something to rally against.

During the 2022 election cycle, many Democratic candidates are attempting to follow Biden’s centrist path to winning Georgia. The most popular Democrat in the state is gubernatorial candidate and nationwide Democratic darling Stacey Abrams, and she's leveraged many moderate messages this campaign cycle, such as giving state patrol officers a raise and “protecting both the 2nd Amendment and 2nd graders.”

Several progressive views — expanding Medicaid, protecting abortion rights, addressing environmental issues — are still part of her platform but she's not trumpeting the Democrat's more polarizing talking points, such as “Defund the police.”

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On the GOP side, Republicans are looking to emulate Trump’s policy stances, but not his firebrand tone - a takeaway from the 2022 GOP primary election. While Trump is still the figurehead of the party to many Georgians, his word is not gospel. The former president poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into former Sen. David Perdue’s failed primary election run against sitting Gov. Brian Kemp. Perdue did his best to paint Kemp as an enemy of Trump, but that message failed to resonate with Georgia Republicans.

University of Georgia political science professor Charles Bullock III says centrism has its advantages. In today’s hyperpartisan political playing field, playing to the middle on some issues allows candidates to pick up their party’s guaranteed vote share, with the added bonus of picking off a few undecided voters, and potentially some of their opposition’s voters too.

“By trying to move to the center, a candidate can hold on to their core constituents, who will likely never move to the other side because they view the other side so negatively,” Bullock said. “But by moving into the center, the candidate then hopes to pick up those individuals who are not tied to a party, those who will go out and do their civic duty, but don't think that their party is the savior of mankind, and the opposition is the devil.”

The Herring-Carter race features two candidates who are trying to appeal to a broad group of voters at a time when politics is dominated by partisans.

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Is Herring a centrist?

Herring claims to be a centrist. He didn’t pick even the typical Democratic blue color for his campaign,opting for green instead, a nod to the greenspaces of the Georgia coast, he says.

But Herring also sees unrestricted access to abortion as the center line in America, a defining issue for many Republicans. Herring is pro-choice and said Congress "must act to restore women's reproductive rights."

“The majority of people in the district want safe access to abortion,” Herring said.

Additionally, Herring said background checks should be expanded to keep felons, fugitives and those under restraining orders from buying guns. He also supports putting "red flag laws" into place, to be used by parents, teachers or counselors when "a child, student or patient is exhibiting violent tendencies or experiencing suicidal thoughts."

“I’m not talking about taking away constitutional rights. Rather, let’s take care of one another,” Herring's website reads.

Herring labels his views consistent with those of "common-sense" Americans, particularly those disturbed by the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot, by Carter's vote against election certification and by Trump's attacks on the FBI for using a search warrant to seize classified information from the former president's private residence.

“I think most Americans are with me on all of those things, including the people of the First District,” Herring said.

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Is Carter a ‘Trump surrogate?’

Carter self-identifies as a Trump surrogate in emails seeking campaign donations.

“I am proud to be endorsed by Donald Trump, but because I am one of the president’s top surrogates in Georgia, donations are flooding in to defeat me,” a Carter campaign email read.

In the aftermath of the 2020 election, some counties in Georgia saw a divide in their Republican parties: squabbles between longstanding party members and the more vocal, more Trump-embracing newcomers.

Asked in January whether he expects that divide to cause strife within the party, Carter was dismissive of the idea, noting there’s only one GOP.

"We are a broad tent; we include many people and many different ideas, and so does the Democratic Party. Don't think that they don't have their extremes over there as well. They have as much division over there, if not more, than we have in the Republican Party,” Carter said.

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Yet recently, Carter has been promoting his bipartisanship, spurred on by a report card from legislative tracking website, Govtrack.us. Carter describes himself as “the most bipartisan, effective member of the Georgia Republican delegation.”

On his GovTrack report card for the last congressional term, from 2020 to 2021, Carter had the most bills or resolutions — 16 out of 21 total — with a Democratic co-sponsor  of any Georgia congressional representative:

“How can I prove that? Well, today you'll see that we just had legislation that I was the lead Republican sponsor of, along with Nikema Williams from Atlanta, on naming the John Lewis Post Office. I’m the guy, I'm the Republican who called around and finally convinced my Republican colleagues this is something we need to do,” Carter said.

Will Peebles is the City Council and County Commission reporter for Savannah Morning News, covering local Savannah and Chatham County decisions. He can be reached at wpeebles@savannahnow.com or on Twitter @willpeeblesSMN

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Georgia U.S. House race sees candidates aim toward centrist vote