Free of Trump? Georgia primary results show GOP ready to break from former president

This commentary is by Opinion Columnist Adam Van Brimmer.

Consider yourselves set free, Georgia Republicans.

State voters gave Donald Trump-endorsed candidates the piñata treatment in Tuesday's GOP primary. Trump enemy No. 1, Gov. Brian Kemp, embarrassed former Sen. David Perdue. Trump 2020 election loss scapegoat Brad Raffensperger won his race without a runoff. Most of the other members of the Trump ticket saw their election hopes shattered as well.

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The outcomes were another repudiation of the former president, an affirmation of the 2020 results that saw Trump lose three races in Georgia — his own to Joe Biden and two U.S. Senate seats that cost the GOP control of the chamber.

Trump is a loser in this state, and if Georgia conservatives don't get past Trump delusion syndrome, they are going to see Democrats win several statewide posts come November. Trump's bogus election claims are rallying more voters against his candidates that to them, and his vendetta against high-profile Republican leaders is the antithesis of leadership.

Nothing to fear from Trump

There's never been a better time for GOP office seekers to split from Trump. The Georgia primary results show there's no reason to fear Trump's wrath.

The former president did everything in his power to undermine Kemp's re-election bid only to see the governor receive more votes on Tuesday than Georgia's biggest icon, Herschel Walker. Raffensperger's secretary of state win is the election equivalent of a shepherd boy felling a giant with a sling and stone.

You have to wonder if Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan would have won his primary had he sought re-election. Duncan is the rare outspoken Trump critic among Georgia elected officials and has spent the last year campaigning for a post-Trump vision of the GOP.

Duncan's "GOP 2.0" is certainly worthy of study now, and he'll certainly leverage it into a future run for some other office.

Georgia's results, along with Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin's 2021 win, show candidates the path to elected office doesn't have to pass through Mar-a-Lago.

A model for other Republicans to follow

Kemp comes away from the primary looking like the Mensa in a Republican class full of dullards.

His Trump counter-strategy proved brilliant — shore up the state's economy, garner a few legislative victories on culture war issues and stand firm against the former president's attacks without breaking out the long knives.

As an observer pointed out at last week's Hyundai announcement, Kemp somehow threaded a needle that was missing a pinhead. He won not just the moderate and crossover votes Tuesday but the base as well. Only the most fervent Trump loyalists rallied behind Perdue, a fact so obvious to the former senator he mailed in the final weeks of the campaign.

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When you're Perdue and recruiting Sarah Palin to rally with you — she who said, "The only thing polls are good for are strippers and downhill skiers" — you might as well go into hiding.

Palin does have a house in Alaska with an impressive view.

Kemp's success is attracting notice. His 11th-hour campaign rally Monday with former Vice President Mike Pence had nothing to do with bolstering Kemp's primary hopes. Kemp had the race won.

Pence's appearance was a road test for 2024. Pence is the only high-profile Republican who ranks above Kemp on Trump's naughty list, claiming the top spot by virtue of his certifying the Electoral College vote on Jan. 6, 2021.

Kemp could come to rival — and eventually even surpass - Trump as a GOP kingmaker should he so choose.

In the meantime, Georgia's governor can claim to be the man who liberated the GOP from Trump. Republicans, politicians and voters alike, just need to show the courage to walk away.

Contact Van Brimmer at avanbrimmer@savannahnow.com and follow him on Twitter @SavannahOpinion.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Trump endorsed candidates lost several races in Georgia GOP primary