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Republican senators are concerned about the prospect of Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene running in the state’s GOP senate primary ahead of next year’s race against Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff.
Greene has said she’s considering running for Senate or governor next year, sharing her confidence that she would win a primary.
This comes as Georgia Republican Governor Brian Kemp has announced that he won’t challenge Ossoff.
Republican senators note that she would have a good chance of winning the GOP nomination because of her strong support among Trump voters and national profile.
However, there are concerns among some that Greene may very well win the primary but lose the general election against Ossoff, much like former NFL player Herschel Walker, who won the Republican nomination for Georgia’s other U.S. Senate seat in 2022 but lost the general election to Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock.
North Dakota Republican Senator Kevin Cramer was asked if Greene would be a strong candidate for the general election.
“We need to have the absolute best candidate, and that includes electability. It’s very difficult to apply a formula for a very gerrymandered, very conservative congressional district into a statewide election with as much diversity as Georgia has,” he said, according to The Hill.
“That is a swing state that’s pretty independent-minded,” Cramer added. “If I was to put my political science hat on and look at all the criteria, she wouldn’t be high on my list of recruits.”
In 2021, Cramer wrote in Newsweek about some of the “crazier” things Greene has said and theories she has supported, such as the notion that the 9/11 terror attacks against New York and Washington were an inside job, or that the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Florida in 2018 was a false flag operation.
He also brought up her 2018 suggestion that a fatal wildfire in California was caused by space lasers, and that it may have been a part of a plan by wealthy financiers to make space for a new high-speed train line. Greene subsequently deleted that Facebook post.
“I think she’s recanted some of the crazier things she’s said,” said Cramer. However, he emphasized that “electability is one of the more important criteria in recruiting a candidate.”
“Sometimes we let ideology be more important, and that’s a mistake,” the senator said.
North Carolina Republican Senator Thom Tillis is up for re-election next year. He also noted that Greene may win the Republican nomination but could be a weaker general election candidate, adding that being able to appeal to independents and moderates in the suburbs remains vital.
“I think she’d be a solid primary contender, but the state’s a lot like North Carolina. It could be a challenge at the statewide level,” said Tillis, according to The Hill.
Greene told NewsNation, “The polling shows I can win the governor’s primary or I can win the Senate primary. That’s a choice that I can make, and I’ll give it some thought.”
“I’m sorry that Brian Kemp’s not running,” Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn said, according to The Hill.
He added that he wants a candidate “that can win. I don’t know whether she qualifies or not.”
A spokesperson for Greene told The Hill that “Polling shows Congresswoman Greene would blow out a primary. She has the same type of support President Trump has, and now he’s president.”
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