Atlanta (AP) – Former election official I made my own name Defending the tally of the 2020 presidential election against threats from President Donald Trump’s supporters is now running to become the state’s election manager.
Republican Gabriel Sterling, 54, filed papers to run for Secretary of State on Tuesday, and announced his candidacy on Thursday.
“The Georgia election is the safest in the country and I will fight every day to keep it that way,” Sterling said in a statement.
Sterling was the right hand man of the Republican Secretary for six years. Brad Raffenspurger Until he recently resigned. Trump famously asked Raffensparger over the phone Help us “find” enough votes Reversing Republican losses in Georgia to Democrat Joe Biden.
Sterling’s entry is the most obvious indication that Raffensparger is looking for another office, perhaps a governor in 2026.
Even before the January 2021 call, Sterling, who oversaw the implementation of the new voting system, was attracting attention.
he repeatedly exposed fraud claims Trump and his supporters denounced the machines in the Dominion voting system. What began as a daily press conference in December 2020 to provide an update on the recounts requested by Trump, Sterling called on Trump to do more to end the threat of violence against electoral workers. He cited the case of a Dominion Contractors Someone who was threatened with death.
“The thing you don’t have the ability to do and you need to step up and say this is to stop urging people to commit potential acts of violence,” Sterling said in a statement directed at Trump. “Someone will get injured. Someone will be shot. Someone will be killed.”
By then, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation had been investigating it. Threats to Raffensperger And Sterling, and both men’s homes, were under police security. Both will be escorted from the Georgia State Capitol on January 6, 2021 by state troopers The day of the siege of the US Capitolsome 100 protesters gathered outside, and some were armed with long guns.
Sterling will be taking part in a race in the 2020 election where issues with Georgia administration are barely gone.
Republican Kelvin King and state legislator Tim Fleming are already in the race. King, a former US Senate candidate, is appealing to Trump supporters. He raced in July with a lesser hindered attack on Sterling, saying, “A government official who attacks political candidates or supporters of any political party will be held accountable and fired. We saw professional conduct at a press conference aimed at attacking the president and the citizens involved.”
His wife, Janelle Kinga member of the state election commission who saw some important actions. It was overturned by the state Supreme Court.
Fleming leads a committee studying Georgia’s electoral system. He praised Raffensparger this week for a letter urging Raffensparger to set up a hand-paper ballot trial, a key demand for Republican activists who have been upset over Georgia’s mechanically marked vote since 2020. It was allegedly banned him He quickly replied that such a trial was illegal as he was re-instated as a Republican.
The only Democrat ever running for Secretary of State is the lesser known Adrian Consanely Jr.
The key question for Sterling is whether Trump supporters who denounce Sterling and Raffensparger for Trump’s 2020 defeat will take control of the primary, or whether Sterling can attract other voters. Georgia does not register voters by party. This means people who vote as independents or usually Democrats. You can participate in the Republican primary.
Sterling is a lifelong Republican who was a city councillor outside Sandy Springs before Raffensparger hired him to oversee the development of the Dominion System before the 2020 election.
