Trump Backs Rep. Jody Hice In Challenge For GA Secretary Of State

GEORGIA — U.S. Rep. Jody Hice announced his candidacy Monday to challenge for Georgia Secretary of State in a primary showdown against Brad Raffensperger.

Former President Donald Trump, in retaliation for Raffensperger’s refusal to capitulate to demands to overturn election results in Georgia, endorsed Hice in the Republican primary for the 2022 election soon after his announcement, according to the New York Times.

Hice took to Twitter Monday morning to confirm rumors that he would try to unseat fellow Republican Raffensperger.

Hice used the opportunity of the news to take shots at the current head of Georgia's elections for not supporting the false allegations that the state's 2020 presidential election was rife with fraud.

“What Brad Raffensperger did was create cracks in the integrity of our elections, which I wholeheartedly believe individuals took advantage of in 2020,” Hice said in a statement on his campaign website that indicated support to state legislation that threatens limit current voter regulations like Sunday voting and providing water or snacks for voters in election lines.

“Though I am encouraged to see the General Assembly taking it upon themselves to address some of the glaring issues in our elections, Georgia deserves a Secretary of State who will own the responsibilities of the office. If elected, I will instill confidence in our election process by upholding the Georgia Constitution, enforcing meaningful reform, and aggressively pursuing those who commit voter fraud.”

Trump advisor Stephen Miller told Fox News on Sunday that a forthcoming endorsement Monday was “really going to shake things up in the political landscape in Georgia. It’s big.”

Hice, who represents Georgia’s 10th Congressional District in the eastern part of the state, confirmed that he has seriously considered running for Secretary of State, supported Trump’s false claims of widespread election fraud. The fourth-term lawmaker, whose district includes parts of Athens, Milledgeville, Augusta, Loganville, Monroe and Grayson, also came under fire following the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol for a now-removed social media post preceding the incident that said “this is our 1776 moment.”

He also supported efforts to block Georgia's electors and a legal challenge to the election results that failed in U.S. Supreme Court.

Raffensperger, for his part, asserted that Georgia’s elections were largely free of fraud, in line with federal reports that the 2020 presidential election was the most secure in recent history. He also recorded and publicized a Jan. 2 phone call in which Trump demanded that he “find 11,780 votes” to flip Georgia back to the incumbent’s favor.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is conducting a criminal investigation surrounding that phone call.