June 13, 2022
Congratulations to the many Republications who won their elections on May 24th and we express our gratitude to those that had the courage to run for public office. We would also like to wish the very best to all those Republicans who are now in a Run-Off. Also, we would like to extend our very best to Janet Hughes who is also in a Run Off for DeKalb School Board District 6. (While there is not a Republican Statewide Run Off Election, there are three Republican U.S. Congressional Races (CD2, CD6 & CD10) and there are several down ballot races. If there is a Run Off in your district inclusive of a Non-Partisan Run off, then please remember to either vote early from June 13-17 or on Election Day on June 21.) Every single vote matters – and many of these races will be close!). We look forward to completely pivoting to the General Election on June 22. We saw massive Republican turnout in the primary, with over 1.2 Million Republicans casting ballots – an all-time high that should bode well for us in November! But we need all of you to come back out to vote a COMPLETE Red Ticket.
The Red Wave in DeKalb
I would like to share the many milestones and achievements that the DeKalb Republicans accomplished during this election cycle. I believe that the numbers speak for themselves but are attributed to many factors. Despite being the #2 Blue County in Georgia, there is a #RedWave in DeKalb. We had 25 candidates on the ballot, our #VoteDeKalbRed GOTV Campaign resonated with voters and has helped to ensure FITness – Faith, Integrity & Trust in our elections.
DEKALB PRIMARY VOTES 2022
29,894 Republicans vs. 99,300 Democrats | 23% of the Vote was Republican
3.3 Democrats to 1 Republican
Kemp – 24,160 Out of 29,703 Votes | 81% of the Republican Vote
Abrams – 97,991 (Ran Unopposed)
DEKALB PRIMARY VOTES 2018
15,315 Republicans vs. 86,676 Democrats | 15% of the Vote was Republican
5.7 Democrats to 1 Republican
Kemp – 2,858 out of 15,085 Votes | 18.95% of the Republican Vote
Abrams – 69,703 out of 86,676 | 80% of the Democrat Vote
The Hand Recount in DeKalb Commissioners 2 Democrat Primary
As has been widely publicized, a number of issues arose in DeKalb County during the Primary, including, but not limited to, issues with the precinct maps that resulted in abnormal or incorrect ballot styles, discrepancies in reporting of votes between the DeKalb County and Secretary of State websites as well as a large tabulation discrepancy which resulted in the hand DeKalb Commissioners 2 Democrat Primary recount.
In the latter of the above issues outlined, the GAGOP, DeKalb GOP and Tea Party Patriots Action believe that the problem was caused when Don Broussard dropped out of the race for the DeKalb Commission District 2 seat. That withdrawal caused a mistake in the programming of the precinct scanner and led to inaccurate vote counts for all three remaining candidates. Additionally, the withdrawal took place after “logic and accuracy testing” had been performed and no re-test was apparently performed after the patch was installed. After learning about the reporting error, I worked closely with our DeKalb Board of Registration and Elections Representatives, Vice Chairman Nancy Jester and Anthony Lewis as well as with the DeKalb Election Supervisor Keisha Smith and her staff. Additionally, to ensure that all citizens of DeKalb County have confidence in the process by which the 2022 primary election was conducted, we reached out on a bi-partisan basis to the DeKalb Democrats and to the GAGOP, Republican National Committee, State Elections Board, Election Integrity Coalition, Coalition for Good Governance and VoterGA to advocate for the hand recount. As it was not clear whether other races were impacted and out of precaution prior to the election certification, I submitted a request along with Tea Party Patriots Action Chairman Jenny Beth Martin for hand counts in selected races to be absolutely sure. This request was endorsed by GAGOP Chairman David Shafer.
I am very grateful to all the aforementioned as well as to DeKalb GOP Vice Chairmen Mike Bryan (1st), Michael Braun (3rd) and House District Candidates Jenine Milum (82), Jodi Diodati (90), Roger Wycoff, Julie Adams and Deborah Baker. At the end of the day and with some reflection after two plus years of hard work, I have concluded that we still have a lot more to do to ensure “FITness – Faith, Integrity & Trust” in our elections. While this situation just opened my eyes just a little more and put my antennas out higher, I am not giving up the fight for FITness!
The Crossover Vote
I preface this, with respect to all the folks with their opinions about the various causes of what we just saw, this is my understanding of what we saw, not a desire, but how I believe things played out.
There were Democrat voters, but the majority of the unexplained vote is first time voters who are also angry and frustrated. They don’t care about the Republican Party drama but like that Governor Kemp reopened Georgia first which reopened America. Many likely do not even care about President Trump’s opinion but miss his policies. Many of them just think that Stacey Abrams has swung her pendulum too far to the left. Others are simply having Biden’s Remorse. A new poll from Quinnipiac last week found that approval of Biden’s job performance plummeted to 33%. More striking, however, the data shows just 22% of Americans ages 18-34, 24% of Hispanic voters, and 49% of black voters said they approve of Biden’s job performance. Each of those demographics is a critical voting bloc for the Democratic Party.
What I can definitely tell you (because we are all experiencing this first hand) is that the economy is teetering because real wages are dropping and the cost of living is rising. We cannot ignore that 83% of Americans say they are experiencing some hardship due to higher prices for everyday items. This is following 2.5 years of struggles from Covid shutdowns and mandates.
Despite being at a 40-year record high inflation at 8.6%, which has not believed to have peaked, most Americans expect inflation to get worse. For many Americans, the most devastating impact of inflation has been felt at the pump with $5.01 per gallon gas which has hit a new record almost every single day over the past 30 days.
Additionally, two of Stacey’s endorsed candidates did not win. Bee Nguyen who is a Democrat running for Secretary of State is in a run off. Bentley Hudgins (HD 90 – Stacey endorsed & her old district) got 14.46% of the vote. There is a run off in this race as well and will face our Jodi Diodati in November!
It is my hope that that these newcomers along with us realize that the GOP is the Great Opportunity Party. Let’s #VoteDeKalbRed and fuel the #RedWave2022 in November because we all LOVE Georgia!!!!
Thank you.
With Best Regards,
Chairman, DeKalb Republican Party
Chairman@DeKalbGOP.org