This was Written and Submitted by Gilmer GOP

Think back to 2012. So much has happened since then that it’s difficult to even
remember where we were back then. Barack Obama had just been reelected. The US House
remained in Republican hands and Harry Reid barely maintained control of the Senate for
Democrats. In Georgia, Senator Saxby Chambliss announced in January 2013 his intention not
to seek reelection in 2014. His announcement opened the door to a shuffling of the political
deck in our state. The open seat was also a test to gauge the state of the Republican Party two
years from the 2016 presidential primary. Although it didn’t seem like it at the time, the events
that unfolded foreshadowed what was to come when Republicans backed Donald Trump, out of
nowhere, for the party nomination.

Once again, we have to think hard to remember the pre-Trump media. The
overaggressive nature of the contemporary press certainly still existed, but they never
considered the possibility of a non-politician seeking the seat. It was still a game of “who’s next”
on the politcal ladder. That’s why when David Perdue, then known as the successful
businessman and cousin of our former governor announced his candidacy, it didn’t receive
much attention. In March of 2013, The Hill ran an article entitled “Tight-knit Georgia Republican
Delegation Starts to Fray Over Senate Race.” The entire contest was framed within the confines
of the existing Congressional delegation, plus former Secretary of State Karen Handel.
Reps. Jack Kingston, Phil Gingrey, and Paul Broun ultimately decided to run for the seat,
along with Handel, Perdue, and two others. So-called experts treated Perdue as an
afterthought. Much like in 2016, they were missing the wave that was sweeping through the
Republican base. The base was angry with the overimposing policies of the Obama
Administration. They had just elected a new generation of Republicans with the 2010 GOP
Wave. However, their frustrations were only intensified when Republicans in Congress didn’t
live up to the expectations of voters. So they quit supporting politicians when possible. We saw
it in Florida with the successful candidacy of Governor (now Senator) Rick Scott. We saw it with
the momentum Herman Cain had in the 2012 presidential primary. The American people had a
growing appetite for electing political outsiders.

I’ll never forget the afternoon in mid 2013. I was driving, well sitting, in Atlanta traffic
listening to Erick Erickson’s evening talk show on WSB radio. He attacked David Perdue’s
success and then claimed his candidacy had zero chance.. In fairness, he wasn’t the only one
who had serious doubts. Throughout 2013, despite being one of the first candidates to
announce, Perdue never reached over 5% in public polls. On paper anyway, it seemed like the
common phrase was correct, “David Perdue is about to waste a lot of his own money for an
election he has no chance to win.”

We have to remember something else here. The political media/consultant class couldn’t
“think outside-the-box” on the Perdue candidacy. In the past, if a candidate declared and
stumped for over a year and never broke double digits in polling, it was considered a lost cause
and customary for the candidate to just drop out. The media/consultant class snickered at
Perdue’s persistence as 2013 turned into 2014 with the other declared candidates trading jabs,
in full campaign mode.

Then came the single most effective political ad I’ve ever seen. The babies all sitting with
each other crying and fussing. Each baby was representative of the POLITICIANS in the race.
Suddenly it all made sense why Perdue had remained quiet while the others fought it out in the
year before the election. He had a proper sense of what was really going on with voters. He
executed a brilliant strategy to create a contrast. Amongst all the noise of the crying politicians,
he was the adult in the room. The successful CEO. He was a true outsider. By Valentines Day
2014 he’d gotten to double digits in polling. In mid-March it was nearly 30% and consistently in
the mid 20% range until primary day. When the election finally happened he’d gotten over 30%,
far and away the most of all candidates in the field.

Once again, the experts reverted back to their old ways. They thought his 30% was the
floor, and the rest of the primary voters would coalesce around his run-off opponent, the
Congressman from the Georgia Coast Jack Kingston. Full disclosure, I was one of them. When
the runoff finally came along I was working with another candidate in a local Atlanta race. We
saw Perdue supporters putting out signs the night before the election. We kept commenting how
“we didn’t know who any of these people were” and “who is this team?” They were outside of
the Georgia Republican Party structure. I was in my mid 20s, very much green to the process,
but experienced enough to know how important it was to have support from the party
establishment. It was an eye-opening experience. What I thought I knew was completely wrong.
The electorate had changed and the “experts” either didn’t see it or willfully tried to suppress it.
The polling had Kingston consistently up by 6-8 percentage points. Knowing what I know now in
2021, it’s more likely they saw it but were trying their best to preach the opposite so they could
stop it.

There was no stopping it though. Although it was a close race, Perdue pulled off the
upset, winning by two percentage points over Kingston. It came as a shock to the political
establishment in Georgia. Later that fall Perdue and Governor Nathan Deal sailed to victory. By
then there was little doubt about what was going on within the Republican base. Perhaps most
importantly, the Republican Party took the Senate away from Harry Reid and the Democrats. It
was a momentous occasion for a country that had been depressed by years of radical leftward
shifts. It reinvigorated the cause, providing a newfound confidence in the fact the Obama
Administration could be stopped by a fully Republican Congress in his final two years.
Senator Perdue continued to embrace his role as a political outsider when he took office.
During his first two years he was a constant critic of the way business was done in Washington
DC. His outrage at the slow pace resonated with voters across the state. It was no surprise that
he became the earliest of supporters of fellow outsider candidate Donald J. Trump, at a time
when nobody thought he could win.

It became apparent none of the “experts” paid attention to the Georgia Senate race of
2014. It was a microcosm of the 2016 race. Senator Perdue’s success laid the groundwork for
President Trump’s improbable run to the White House. Throughout the Trump presidency he’s
never wavered in his support for the president. He’s never lost sight of the feeling among voters
that propelled him into office in the first place. He is still our outsider. I firmly believe he shouldn’t
even be in this runoff election. The number of voting irregularities and outright fraud likely put
him below 50%. In any other state his 49.73% would’ve put him back in office. It’s an absolute
no brainer, when compared to his unimpressive opponent, that David Perdue should be
reelected to the US Senate on January 5th. He brings his career accomplishments outside of
politics to the table.His opponent is looking to accomplish a political career, he’s an insider. Let’s
keep our outsider.