Why Katie Britt ran so far ahead in Bama Senate primary (May 25): Rather than serving as any sort of national harbinger, the Republican primary election results in Alabama this week taught old-fashioned political lessons. Chief among them is that hard work, energy, and grassroots organizing still carry the day.
Another lesson, as noted in these pages by James Sweet, is that attention to local issues still matters. So does basic likability. Finally, despite the Trumpian trend toward slash-and-burn politics, there’s something to be said for ending a campaign, Reagan-like, on a positive note. On all four fronts, first-time candidate Katie Britt excelled, which is why she finished 16 points ahead of the runner-up when the polling averages had her up by just 6.
What didn’t matter much in Alabama was former President Donald Trump himself. Unlike in neighboring Georgia, Trump played only a minor role here. …
Trump laid a huge egg in the Georgia primaries (May 25):
It’s not clear what happened tonight to former President Donald Trump in the Georgia Republican primaries. Trump either got his butt kicked, his hat handed to him, or multiple eggs on his face. Or maybe he had to eat a flock of crows.
Either way, Georgia Republicans overwhelmingly rejected Trump’s attempt to punish Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger for refusing to help him steal Georgia’s electoral votes in 2020. After losing the state by just under 12,000 votes, Trump tried to ruin the careers of these two men, whose only sin was to follow the law dutifully despite his pressure to do the opposite. Instead of losing, both easily won renomination for their current offices against Trump-backed challengers David Perdue and Jody Hice, respectively. The Trump challengers’ performance was embarrassingly awful.
Trump had not just given some sort of pro forma endorsements to Perdue and Hice. He went so far as to recruit Perdue, the former senator, to run against Kemp. Twice in the past three days, Trump repeated his endorsement of Perdue, again this morning in a rant against Kemp in which he asserted that “David Perdue is a conservative fighter who … has my Complete and Total Endorsement.” (That’s Trump’s own capitalization.)…
