What’s at stake in 2022 primary? In Georgia and elsewhere, all future elections

This is a column by Opinion Editor Adam Van Brimmer.

Democracy is said to “die in darkness.” As for lethal injury, the killing blow could come in the light of day, over the next four weeks, right here in Georgia.

At the ballot box.

Most of us scoff at the old saw of “this the most important election of your life.” But the May 24 Republican primary actually meets that impossible standard because certain candidates, if elected, won’t hesitate to use their power to overturn future elections.

If Gov. David Perdue disagrees with the 2024 presidential election result in Georgia, he’ll call a special session of the Georgia General Assembly to invalidate the results. If Jody Hice is Georgia secretary of state, Perdue won’t need to muscle flex — Hice, as the state’s elections chief, will have already sabotaged the count.

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Meanwhile, Attorney General John Gordon will stand ready to defend the election stealing in court, and U.S. Congress members Vernon Jones, Andrew Clyde and Marjorie Taylor Greene will be standing by to refuse Electoral College vote certification.

If you can’t beat ‘em, cheat ‘em

Elections will become mockeries. Governing will become a zero-sum equation. America, as we know it, will die.

If you can’t beat ‘em, cheat ‘em

If ever there were an election to be a one-issue voter, it’s this one.

Using a candidate’s position on abortion or gun control or health care coverage as a litmus test shows a dangerous narrowmindedness. Whether a would-be elected official will honor the collective will of voters, on the other hand, is a no-brainer.

If you value that most inalienable of American rights — the ability to choose your future leaders — you can’t vote for devious hucksters.

Someone like Perdue, who opened a recent gubernatorial debate by declaring the 2020 election “was rigged and stolen” even as investigations by fellow Republicans, including an unapologetically conniving U.S. attorney general, proved otherwise.

Someone like Hice, who as a U.S. House member voted against certifying the Electoral College results on Jan. 6, 2021 and continues to claim former President Donald Trump won the election.

Someone like Gordon, a lawyer who was part of a legal team that attempted to overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 election outcome. Evidently, Sidney Powell and Rudy Guiliani were unavailable to run.

These men, along with Jones and Greene, know Biden defeated Trump and Jon Ossoff beat Perdue in 2020. They aren’t deluded, basement-dwelling conspiracy theorists whose idea of social interaction is to post on 4chan.

They are power-hungry opportunists, and Trump’s success in propagating the “Big Lie” positions them to turn a beacon of freedom into an authoritarian state. A vote for them may be the last vote you ever make.

A coordinated, nationwide assault

The would-be coup is not confined to Georgia.

Voters in eight other states will pick election chiefs — secretaries of state in most cases — and Trump-backed attorney generals are on the ballot in 10 states. Not coincidentally, the targets are 2020 battleground states, such as Arizona, Michigan and Nevada, and other states that Trump loyalists fear are “purpling,” such as Idaho and Ohio.

Trump challenged vote counts in several states in 2020, hoping to get results overturned in two or more and leave the election up to the House of Representatives, where more states have Republican-controlled delegations than Democratic-led ones.

The strategy failed, but Trumpists won't be fired again. Another close presidential election — at least by Electoral College count — is likely in 2024. With Big Liars in big offices, Trump would have the leverage to cheat his way to victory that he lacked in 2020.

Granted, the primary is not the general election. Perdue could win in May and lose to Stacey Abrams in November. Same goes for Hice, with the Democrats putting up a strong challenger, likely Bee Nguyen.

But Georgia is still a Republican-leaning state, and winning the GOP primary would put elected office within Trumpists’ slimy reach.

Early voting for the primary starts Monday. Those Georgians who take a Republican ballot won’t just be voting for nominees, they’ll be defending — or assaulting — democracy.

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

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Georgia 2022 GOP primary ticket stacked with 'Big Lie' candidates