Trump’s sustained attacks on Kemp over his refusal to overturn Biden’s victory in the state are making the Georgia governor even more vulnerable, and Trump has threatened to back a primary challenger against Kemp next year. All of that is hurting the GOP’s standing in the historically red state at a time when Democrats are continuing to make significant inroads here.

“I absolutely believe we’ve got a shot at every statewide office in 2022,” said Kelly Girtz, the Democratic mayor of Athens, the north Georgia college town. “That would have been true already given the strength of the candidates we’re going to have on the ballot. But it doesn’t hurt that Trump is continuing to kick sand in everybody’s face.”…

“Most Republicans are not going to say it publicly, but while the president has been clear in supporting David and Kelly, at the same time he’s been hurting the Georgia Republican Party,” said former Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.), a Kemp ally who lost to Perdue in the 2014 Senate primary. “And we need every vote we can get. We need unity. And that’s a challenge right now.”