(The Center Square) – Brad Raffensperger is focusing on several issues in his run for Georgia governor, but the man who has been disparaged by both political parties during his tenure as secretary of state doesn’t back down from the criticism.
“We were pursued by Stacey Abrams and her allied groups over 10 times and I met her and beat here and her allies in court every single time because our laws were right, they were good laws,” Raffensperger said Wednesday in an interview with The Center Square. “We stood up and and protected SB202 which was the Election Integrity Act of 2021. We lost an All-Star Game over it. We actually ended up having a higher turnout in 2022 and even a higher turnout in 2024.”
Major League Baseball followed its controversial decision to pull the 2021 All-Star Game, in part in Atlanta to honor Hank Aaron, with a November 2023 nod to bring the 2025 game to the city. And that was without a change in the voting law.
Raffensperger’s January 2021 phone call with Donald Trump, then in his final days of a first term at the White House, included criticism of that November’s election results. It was part of the election interference case brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis against Trump and 18 others that ultimately was dismissed.
Republicans called the case lawfare.
Democrats have questioned Raffensperger’s review of voter rolls, which led to the removal of thousands of voters. And Raffensperger has faced continued scrutiny from the State Election Board over investigations and access to information.
The secretary of state’s office oversees elections, so it was no surprise that one of Raffensperger’s first platforms addressed elections. He wants voters to provide a REAL ID in order to vote.
“If you have to have REAL ID to get on an airplane, REAL ID to get into a federal office building, why wouldn’t you have REAL ID for elections?” Raffensperger said.
Georgia offers photo identification cards for voters who do not have a driver’s license. Raffensperger said that he has checked citizenship three times, the most anyone has done.
Raffensperger’s platform includes doubling school security grants from $50,000 a year to $100,000. He also plans to release a health care proposal before the May 19 primary.
“I feel that actually America has the best hospital coverage in the world,” he said. “It’s the affordability issue. How do we deal with that?”
While elections are part of Raffensperger’s purview as secretary of state, that’s not what constituents are talking about on the campaign trail, he said.
“Actually, what I’m really hearing about, people are concerned about their pocketbook issues,” Raffensperger said. “That’s why when I run for governor, I am focused on what they are focused on and I am the best person to solve that.”
Before entering public service, Raffensperger and his wife, Tricia, opened up a child care center as a young couple. Within a year and a half, it had 133 children and then grew to 174.
Raffensperger was still working in the construction business, but was able to leave his job, sell the child care center and start his own business.
“We’ve kind of lived the American life, the American dream, working hard, and so I want to make sure that my fellow Georgians have the same future we had,” he said. “I want to make sure that their kids have the same future.”
To get to the November primary, Raffensperger has to defeat seven other Republicans. The ballot includes Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, Attorney General Chris Carr, Clark Dean, Gregg Kirkpatrick, Leland Olinger II, Kenneth Yasger and Rick Jackson, who just entered the race in February.
A poll taken by Cygnal in early February shows Raffensperger is third behind Jones and Jackson and ahead of Carr. Raffensperger fared better in a poll released on Tuesday by Rasmussen Reports and A Public Voice Inc. He’s ahead of Jones 18%-16%, with both behind Jackson’s 22%. Carr received 10%.
But 34% of those polled said they were undecided three months from primary Election Day. With eight candidates and a law requiring 50% plus one vote to declare victory, a June 16 runoff is likely.
(This is a first in a series of interviews with Georgia’s gubernatorial candidates).
