After presidential election, Florida Republicans have Georgia on their mind

David Perdue. Image via AP.

With the presidential election in the rearview, the political world’s eyes have started turning toward two Senate races in Georgia. That includes the gaze of Florida Republicans, who enjoyed a better Tuesday than their Peach State compatriots and who feel anxious to lend a hand.

Joe Gruters, chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, said he has had four conversations since Tuesday with Georgia Republican Party Chair David Shafer.

“I let him know we will do everything we can to assist them,” Gruters said. “We have a lot of volunteers and donors and will do whatever we can to hold on to those two Senate seats.”

Georgia ended up holding two Senate elections on Tuesday. Sen. David Perdue, the Republican incumbent, faced a reelection challenge from Democrat  Jon Ossoff and on Tuesday fell just shy of 50% and thus heads for a January runoff. Additionally, Sen. Kelly Loeffler, appointed to replace retired Sen. Johnny Isakson, also faced an election and came in second to Democrat Raphael Warnock, so those two will see a runoff as well.

Christian Ziegler, who grew up in Georgia, expects a huge fight and intends to lend his expertise.

“I want to make sure to get involved and save our country,” he said.

He’s not the only one. With the Florida election cycle effectively wrapped, conservative activists feel anxious about the pending Senate races that could determine control of the U.S. Senate. For many Republican activists in Jacksonville, North Florida and the Panhandle, it’s a short drive to knock on doors and provide other work in Georgia.

For the moment, Georgia Republicans signaled to Florida leaders they remain focused on the presidential election. While national networks called Pennsylvania and Nevada for Democrat Joe Biden, the Georgia vote in the battleground state remains within recount margins. As of 6 p.m. Saturday, Biden led President Donald Trump by 7,547, roughly a 10th of a percentage point.

“They are tied up and focused on that,” Ziegler said. “We have been told to stand by and let’s get the presidential out of the way real quick.”

It’s possible the resolution of that race at the national level for Biden will lower the temperature of any recount in Atlanta, considering the awarding of Georgia’s 16 electoral votes apparently won’t decide the presidency.

But denying Trump a second term, especially with so many battleground states coming down to close margins, has only fired up the Republican base.

Florida Republicans had a definitively better night than cohorts in Georgia. Trump won the Sunshine State by 3.37%, way outside any recount margin. The GOP here also flipped two congressional seats and five state House seats from blue to red, and hold an edge in a closely watched state Senate recount.

In short, there’s some expertise to offer.

But Gruters said whatever role the Florida party plays, it will be a subservient one. “Whatever role it is we play will be a supplemental role,” Gruters said. “But we are their neighbor. A lot of our people want to help.”