By David Kamioner | February 21, 2020
The GOP has a problem in Georgia and his name is Doug Collins. Not that Collins isn’t sharp and a strong Trump supporter. He proved both by his exemplary performance during the House impeachment sham.
The issue is that his political ambitions could throw an easy GOP seat to the Democrats.
GOP Senator Johnny Isakson resigned late last year due to health reasons. GOP Governor Brian Kemp appointed Republican Kelly Loeffler to take the seat until a special election this November. Trump and the GOP party organization endorsed Loeffler for the seat. But then Collins got in the picture.
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Looking at very strong polling numbers against Loeffler, he’s bucking the GOP and the president and running for the seat. His excellent performance during impeachment must have only given him more confidence in his decision and made him think the president would not come down too hard on him.
He is right about the president, but not about the party. They had this to say when he made his decision: “This shortsighted decision is stunning,” said National Republican Senatorial Committee Executive Director Kevin McLaughlin. “Doug Collins’ selfishness will hurt David Perdue, Kelly Loeffler, and President Trump. Not to mention the people of Georgia who will stand to bear the burden of it for years to come. All he has done is put two senate seats, multiple house seats, and Georgia’s 16 electoral votes in play.”
You can’t really blame Collins. It’s a rule in politics to look out for number one and take your shot when it’s there for you. The party and the president do not agree because Georgia has weird election rules. All candidates run in November and the top person takes the seat. However, if no one takes a majority then a runoff happens in January. So if too many Republicans run, a Democrat can sneak in through the middle and take the seat because the GOP vote gets split.
Got that?
So, not a happy situation in the GOP Georgia family. Thus, dad steps in.
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The president is offering the high-powered DNI, Director of National Intelligence, post to Collins. It’s the most important intel post in the nation and would give Collins serious creds for higher office. If Collins took it that would get him out of the way in Georgia and make everyone happy.
But Collins isn’t biting. Friday morning he told Fox News that he is still running for the Senate seat. He could be holding out for a better price. Or perhaps he looks at his good numbers in the race and thinks Trump will go easy on him and be distracted by his own race.
But the president has just started his pressure on Collins. We’ll see what happens as November get closer.
This piece originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.
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