Raffensperger Doesn’t Rule Out Voting for Trump in 2024 Despite Trump Asking Him to Fabricate Thousands of Votes
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger appeared on the Mehdi Hasan Show on Tuesday and it was quite something.
Raffensperger, of course, is one of the most loathed figures by MAGA world. Though he is a Republican who said he voted for Donald Trump in 2020, he committed the unpardonable sin of certifying Georgia’s 16 electoral votes for Joe Biden. Trump has alleged that election was stolen from him in Georgia and elsewhere, and has railed against Raffensperger on numerous occasions.
Trump’s attacks prompted his supporters to send Raffensperger and his wife death threats. Moreover, in early January, Trump and the secretary of state had an hourlong phone call during which the then-president asked Raffensperger to fabricate votes in his favor.
“I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have, because we won the state,” Trump told him, identifying the number of votes needed to put him over the top in Georgia.
“You’ve said for a year that you voted for Donald Trump in 2020,” Medhi Hasan said to Raffensperger. “So if he – as looks likely – is the Republican candidate again in 2024, will you vote for him again?”
“That is so far out in the future,” said Raffensperger before launching into boilerplate about “robust debate,” “character,” and “moral compass.”
Hasan interrupted him, which led to this exchange:
HASAN: With respect, Secretary Raffensperger, we’re out of time and I have to ask the question again. You’ve done a masterful job of avoiding a lot of my questions. So I’m gonna ask it again: if Donald Trump is the candidate – you told me at the start of the interview you’re a Republican, you’re a conservative – are you gonna vote for this guy?
RAFFENSPERGER: That’s so far out in the future. I haven’t even thought about that. I gotta get reelected next year–
HASAN: You’re not ruling it out, which is astonishing to me. This is a guy who incited violence against you and your family and you’re considering maybe voting for him? You’re not saying tonight, “No way am I ever voting for that guy”?
[Five awkward seconds of silence]
RAFFENSPERGER: Was that a question or was that a statement? I didn’t really understand.
HASAN: We’re out of time and I’ll ask it one more time: can you say emphatically tonight that you will not vote in 2024 for the man who you say threatened you, incited threats against you?
RAFFENSPERGER: I believe in 2024, we’ll have a person that can grow the party because we didn’t have 50% of the popular vote for a long period of time. We need to grow our party. We need to figure out how to do that because so we have an attractive message that actually embraces people, expands the base, and we can make sure that we win the 50 plus one percent of the people, plus win the electoral college.
Watch above via Peacock.
