‘Lock him up!’ Perdue promotes election conspiracies to boost struggling campaign

The crowd at Donald Trump’s rally hardly stirred when David Perdue claimed that Gov. Brian Kemp “sold us out” in negotiations for a $5 billion Rivian plant in east Georgia. He was met with stony silence when he reinforced his support for the stalled Buckhead cityhood effort. But cheers rang out Saturday when Perdue turned to Trump’s obsession by falsely claiming the 2020 “elections were absolutely stolen” thanks to Kemp. And when he promised to ensure that “whoever was responsible goes to jail” if elected governor, loud chants of “lock him up!” erupted from Trump supporters gathered at the old dragway in Commerce. Perdue responded to the demands to imprison Kemp, his former political ally turned primary rival, by flashing a smile and a thumbs-up sign to the crowd.

It was perhaps the most vivid example of how pro-Trump Republicans are escalating election fraud conspiracy theories to rally conservatives ahead of the May 24 primaries. But it wasn’t the only one. U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene called Kamala Harris the “supposed” vice president. State Sen. Burt Jones, who is running for lieutenant governor, promised to ban ballot drop boxes and get rid of “cursed Dominion machines.” And John Gordon, a little-known challenger to Attorney General Chris Carr endorsed by Trump this week, told the crowd that the first step he would take after defeating the “do nothing” incumbent would be to open an investigation into the 2020 election. “We are going to uncover the facts, we will expose the truth and we are going to hold the people responsible accountable,” said Gordon, who earlier declared Trump won the election. “It will never happen again.” The election wasn’t stolen. Three separate tallies upheld Biden’s narrow victory, an audit of absentee ballot signatures in Cobb County found no cases of fraud, court challenges by Trump allies were squashed, and bipartisan officials – including Trump’s attorney general – have said the election was fair.