By Jack Bernard, contributing columnist
PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. | Will the Republicans nominate Chris Carr for governor?
He said in Febrary at a St. Simon’s Island event: “One of my opponents…can’t win the primary, and the other can’t win the general election.”
Who? That is what a close friend, a lifelong Georgia Republican, said to me when I asked him the chances of Carr becoming governor. He is not wrong.
Carr became attorney general in 2016, appointed by then-Gov. Nathan Deal. He won the general election in 2018, getting only 51 percent of the vote, barely beating his Democratic opponent. Since then, Carr has kept a low profile, doing his job with little fanfare. However, my suspicion is that most GOP voters do not even know who he is. Further, a recent poll indicates that 6 percent of GOP voters prefer him as their nominee.
As for Carr’s statement above, he was referring to moderate Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger regarding not winning the GOP primary. As for potential general election problems, he was referring to Lt. Gov. Burt Jones. But he just as easily could have been referring to newcomer Rick Jackson, since both are pro-Trump MAGA right-wingers.
On that point, I agree with Carr. Both Jones and Jackson will have an almost impossible task getting the increasing number of moderate voters who are declaring themselves “independent” while they are still courting the MAGA base. Being endorsed by Donald Trump will be a negative for moderates. Over half – 51 percent – of Georgia voters disapprove of the job Trump is doing. But that figure would be much higher if not for the GOP base which strongly supports him. For example, only 10% of black voters (a key factor in the general election) approve of his performance.
As for positions on issues, Carr is more politically rational than the front runners, Jackson and Jones. He wisely emphasizes the economy, rather than social issues like DEI, saying, “Things are real unaffordable if you don’t have a job.”
Georgia voters agree, with more residents agreeing that the economy is the biggest issue facing Georgians.
Still, Carr is far from liberal. Carr endorsed a Firearms Policy Coalition (gun-rights organization) lawsuit seeking to rescind an entirely reasonable Savannah City Council ordinance prohibiting keeping firearms in unlocked cars and trucks. Carr called it “misguided attempt to punish law-abiding Georgians.”
He is also very conservative on many other issues, including abortion, immigration, crime, environmental regulation and vaccine mandates. On each of these, his stance is roughly the same as the MAGA base.
To summarize: Attorney General Carr states that he admires former U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson and former Gov. Nathan Deal, both traditional conservatives. If he were to be elected, Georgia voters can expect his voting record to be much the same as theirs.
- Have a comment? Click here to send an email.
