Georgia GOP Official Who Denounced Trump Says He Was ‘Pissed’ When Dems Called State’s Voter Law ‘Jim Crow 2.0’

Georgia Interim Deputy Secretary of State Gabriel Sterling, who rebuffed Donald Trump’s claims the state’s election was rigged against him in 2020, was “pissed” when Democrats called a 2021 election integrity law “Jim Crow.”

Sterling expressed his thoughts on the reaction to the much-criticized Election Integrity Act of 2021 on Fox Business Network.

During an interview with host Elizabeth MacDonald on The Evening Edit, Sterling said he and others are “sick and tired of being called racist” over an attempt to protect the integrity of the vote in the state.

Sterling noted since the controversial bill became law, Georgia has seen record early turnout ahead of the Nov. 8 midterm elections. He also explained what is in the law:

Here are some of the big parts of it. We put in extra early voting days. Went from a mandated 16 days to 17 days. We put in absentee ballot deadlines that really protect the franchise for voters. We put in a binary system using photo I.D. and driver’s license numbers to identify voters who are requesting absentee ballots.

“We did a lot of stuff really to protect the voter and protect the vote at the same time,” he said, noting early voting is up 55% in Georgia compared to the same time in 2018.

MacDonald played a reel of Democrats from President Joe Biden to Donna Brazile calling the law “Jim Crow 2.0” and asked him for his reaction.

“Frankly, I was getting more and more pissed,” he said of the law being designated as racist by Democrats. “I was getting angry every time I heard it, because I knew this law was protecting people’s rights to vote.”

Sterling said Democrats have a “playbook” and added they “have to run it.”

“Since 2014, Stacey Abrams has poll tested the term ‘voter suppression,'” he said. “They have nothing else to run on. They have given [voters] nothing else to vote for in the state. So they have to keep saying it.”

Sterling was one of several Georgia Republicans who pushed back after Trump said cheating cost him a victory in their state.

Four weeks before the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack, Sterling said:

Mr. President, it looks like you likely lost the state of Georgia. We’re investigating, there’s always a possibility, I get it, you have the right to go through the courts. What you don’t have the ability to do — and you need to step up and say this — is stop inspiring people to commit potential acts of violence.

Watch above, via Fox Business.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!