On Thursday, state Sen. Michael Williams announced that he was joining the crowded GOP primary to succeed termed-out Republican Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal. Williams, who used to own a barber shop chain, first won his exurban Atlanta seat in 2014 by spending $300,000 of his own money to unseat an incumbent in the primary. Williams says he’ll use a “significant sum” of his fortune on his campaign, and he attacked the GOP-led state government for failing to deliver “basic conservative legislation.”
Williams was the first Georgia elected official to back Donald Trump, and he’s wasted no time pitching himself as the Trumpiest candidate in the land. Even before he announced, Williams took the time to troll one of his primary rivals, state Sen. Hunter Hill, on Twitter, arguing that Hill hadn’t “work[ed] to elect Trump but now you use his name for votes?” Williams followed up by telling the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Hill was “wrong for a candidate to prey on loyal Trump supporters for their votes based on false pretenses.”
A number of Georgia Republicans have already kicked off their bids. Secretary of State Brian Kemp also launched his campaign by trying to portray himself as Georgia’s Donald Trump. By contrast, the AJC recently noted that Casey Cagle, who has served as lieutenant governor since 2007, did not even mention Trump in his campaign kickoff; Cagle is close to the pre-Trump Republican establishment and business groups. Hill, who represents an affluent Atlanta seat that turned against Trump, hasn’t ignored Trump the same way that Cagle seems to be doing, arguing that Williams “thinks he is the only Georgian allowed to support President Trump.” However, Williams has geared his campaign more towards local issues like his support for school vouchers.
The primary field may get even larger before too long. Ex-Rep. Jack Kingston, who represented a Savanna seat for 22 years before narrowly losing a 2014 Senate primary, has been talking about getting in. Kingston went on to serve as a Trump campaign advisor, and he’s become a pro-Trump talking head on CNN. Nick Ayers, a former head of the Republican Governors Association and a top aide 2016 campaign to Mike Pence, is also reportedly considering, and other Peach State Republicans may also run. If no one takes a majority in the primary, there will be a runoff.
However, while state House Speaker David Ralston didn’t rule out a bid three months ago, he did seem to back away from a possible gubernatorial run in late May. Ralston gave a speech declaring, "I intend for my focus, this year and next, to be where it has always been, and that is on the Georgia House of Representatives and the good people of Georgia that we represent." That’s not a no, but it doesn’t sound like he’s planning to give up his position in the state House for a risky statewide bid.