{"id":1516,"date":"2026-05-18T12:39:39","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T12:39:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/?p=1516"},"modified":"2026-05-18T12:39:39","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T12:39:39","slug":"the-party-has-sailed-its-ship-ex-republican-runs-as-democrat-for-georgia-governors-seat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/?p=1516","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The party has sailed its ship\u2019: ex-Republican runs as Democrat for Georgia governor\u2019s seat"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"border-color:var(--article-border);background-color:var(--article-inner-background)\" class=\"dcr-wqti5a\">\n<div class=\"dcr-2zxs1v\">\n<div style=\"--grid-area:media\" data-gu-name=\"media\" class=\"dcr-1fnjjtg\">\n<div class=\"dcr-14emo0l\">\n<div class=\"dcr-tr9ye5\">\n<figure id=\"5af513a9-a500-4afd-9e0d-75d8239823f1\" class=\"dcr-142siv7\">\n<div id=\"img-1\" class=\"dcr-1t8m8f2\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A man in a suit.\" src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/f30a7d30e693739588aef587dc182f07378ba3f8\/0_0_3000_2001\/master\/3000.jpg?width=465&amp;dpr=1&amp;s=none&amp;crop=none\" width=\"465\" height=\"310.15500000000003\" loading=\"eager\" class=\"dcr-evn1e9\"><span class=\"dcr-v822l1\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-gup2gr\">\n<div class=\"dcr-fntg6k\"><label for=\"the-checkbox\" class=\"dcr-1xgwz8b\"><\/label> <\/p>\n<div id=\"the-caption\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-1os51wo\"><span class=\"dcr-hvsf4t\"><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1qvd3m6\">Then Georgia lieutenant governor Geoff Duncan on 14 August 2023 in Atlanta.<\/span> Photograph: Alex Slitz\/AP<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/span><a href=\"#img-1\" data-ignore=\"global-link-styling\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-13fd1ms\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><button data-element-id=\"5af513a9-a500-4afd-9e0d-75d8239823f1\" type=\"button\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-4tmywn\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><span class=\"dcr-194i6pr\">View image in fullscreen<\/span><\/button><\/a><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"dcr-n4pnam\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-1hdkqum\"><span class=\"dcr-hvsf4t\"><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1qvd3m6\">Then Georgia lieutenant governor Geoff Duncan on 14 August 2023 in Atlanta.<\/span> Photograph: Alex Slitz\/AP<\/figcaption><\/span><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"--grid-area:border\" data-gu-name=\"border\" class=\"dcr-1fnjjtg\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"--grid-area:headline\" data-gu-name=\"headline\" class=\"dcr-1fnjjtg\">\n<div class=\"dcr-14emo0l\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1aqe7zu\">\n<h1 class=\"dcr-1k1a1x\">\u2018The party has sailed its ship\u2019: ex-Republican runs as Democrat for Georgia governor\u2019s seat<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"--grid-area:standfirst\" data-gu-name=\"standfirst\" class=\"dcr-1fnjjtg\">\n<div class=\"dcr-b3fmmo\">\n<p>After being excommunicated from the GOP, Geoff Duncan is trying for a comeback on the Democratic ticket<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"--grid-area:body\" data-gu-name=\"body\" class=\"dcr-kn9unn\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1a4fred\">\n<div id=\"maincontent\" class=\"dcr-ydnaza\">\n<div class=\"article-body-commercial-selector article-body-viewer-selector dcr-1c9t5u6\">\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">In the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/state-of-georgia\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\">Georgia<\/a> governor\u2019s race, Geoff Duncan\u2019s candidacy tests American politics as much as it tests his political appeal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The former Republican lieutenant governor of Georgia is a current Democraticcandidate for governor, with former Biden official and Atlanta ex-mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms currently holding the lead in Tuesday\u2019s Democratic primary. A Republican is still favored to win, with billionaire Rick Jason up against the secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, and the lieutenant governor, Burt Jones.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Though his candidacy might not prove successful on 19 May, in offering himself to the public, Duncan is asking Democratic voters to consider what the off-ramp for Republican leaders should look like in the waning days of the Trump era. Can it be as simple as switching parties and rearranging one\u2019s political values?<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cI think the audience of receptive Republicans is a lot bigger than what most folks would think in the Republican party,\u201d Duncan said. \u201cIt\u2019s not fun to have to defend <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/donaldtrump\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\">Donald Trump<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"7c5596a1-09e2-4076-8a83-de4c9158bb55\" data-spacefinder-role=\"richLink\" data-spacefinder-type=\"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.RichLinkBlockElement\" class=\"dcr-47fhrn\">\n<div data-print-layout=\"hide\" data-link-name=\"rich-link-4 | 4\" data-component=\"rich-link\" data-name=\"placeholder\" class=\"dcr-1kyw41h\">\n<div data-format-theme=\"5\" data-format-design=\"0\" data-format-display=\"0\" class=\"dcr-1bg5532\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/may\/15\/george-town-ice-detention-center-lawsuit\" class=\"dcr-1m887w9\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-ut4tvs\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1h5b6rb\">\n<div class=\"dcr-169d7yv\">Georgia town sues over ICE plan for vast immigration detention center<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dcr-eurq8n\">\n<div class=\"dcr-fkf7vq\">Read more<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">He said that task has become increasingly difficult, even in rural parts of Georgia. \u201cThese farmers in these legislative districts have absolutely got a knife in the back from Trump,\u201d he said. \u201cA lot of them voted for Trump in 24, yet now they might lose their farms because of these stupid tariffs that nobody can explain.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Brushback for opposing Trump is something the former professional baseball player knows acutely.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Both Duncan and Brian Kemp, the Republican governor retiring from public office this year, refused Trump\u2019s extraordinary demands to set aside the results of the 2020 election in Georgia and to call a special session of the legislature to declare Trump the winner. Duncan took to CNN in the weeks following the election to tell Trump to accept the results and to focus on Georgia\u2019s two US Senate contests, rather than continue the contest and \u201cdamage the brand\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Instead, Trump added Duncan to his enemies list.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cOur family received death threats virtually every time Donald Trump went to Twitter and lied about me,\u201d Duncan said in congressional testimony afterward. \u201cWe were harassed by Maga disciples almost everywhere we went out in public. Our kids got picked on in school. The list goes on and on and on, all because I was telling the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Thus began Duncan\u2019s partisan apostasy. He plotted a path for conservatives to emerge in a post-Trump politics, articulated in his book GOP 2.0: How the 2020 Election Can Lead to a Better Way Forward for America\u2019s Conservative Party, which was published in 2021. He testified in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2023\/aug\/15\/georgia-indictment-trump-election-plot-analysis\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">the Georgia racketeering case<\/a>, which brought criminal charges to Trump and his allies, defying Trump\u2019s demand to stay home. He began showing up at Democratic events. He campaigned for Kamala Harris and spoke at the Democratic National Convention.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Georgia has been here before. The southern state had an unbroken line of Democratic governors from Reconstruction all the way to 2002, when Sonny Perdue \u2013 who switched from the Democratic to the Republican party as a state senator in 1998 \u2013 defeated the Democratic then governor Roy Barnes in a racially polarized campaign after Barnes engineered the end of the Confederate battle flag as part of Georgia\u2019s state standard. The last of the state\u2019s conservative <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/democrats\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\">Democrats<\/a> began switching parties shortly after that, taking the legislature with them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Today, Duncan says today he has abandoned the hope for a renewed Republican party he articulated in his book.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cFirst and foremost, the Republican party has sailed their ship over the horizon, it\u2019s gone. There will be nothing left when Donald Trump\u2019s done with it,\u201d Duncan said. \u201cSome of his minions may try to hold the pieces together. I think that\u2019s a foregone conclusion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The feeling is mutual, it seems. Georgia\u2019s GOP establishment has meticulously excommunicated Duncan, so much so that it barred him from attending Republican events or even entering property owned by the party. Party officials expunged its records nominating him to elected offices in the past, symbolically recasting a never-Trumper as a never-Republican.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">After two sharp losses to Kemp, some Democrats offer a cynical electoral argument for Duncan that might be crass for him to make it himself: that a straight, white committed Christian family man and reformed Republican has a better chance of drawing Republican cross-party voters than a field of candidates who better resemble Stacey Abrams than the last Democrat in the Georgia governor\u2019s mansion, Roy Barnes.<\/p>\n<figure data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" data-spacefinder-type=\"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.NewsletterSignupBlockElement\" class=\"dcr-173mewl\">\n<div data-name=\"placeholder\" class=\"dcr-ri3hap\"><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Critics refute this argument by gesturing toward the Rev Raphael Warnock, Georgia\u2019s first Black US senator. But Duncan isn\u2019t offering his relationship with the party or an appeal to racial politics as a selling point. He\u2019s hoping to offer his profile in political courage, and his experience with lawmakers and policymaking instead.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cI can\u2019t just campaign with a bunch of rhetoric and make a bunch of shallow promises and then show up as damaged goods like so many folks winning elections these days,\u201d Duncan said. \u201cI\u2019ve got to actually show up and be willing to do what I said I\u2019m going to do, and that\u2019s build consensus, solve problems, not pick fights, and stay away from just pandering just to get votes. I think that\u2019s part of the coalition that\u2019s coming together to elect us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Duncan said he wants to tap Georgia\u2019s burgeoning rainy-day fund \u2013 a reserve of about $17bn \u2013 to help address childcare costs and reduce poverty. Georgia is one of 10 states that has not expanded Medicaid access; Duncan supports expansion. He would prioritize diverse hiring practices in state government, rejecting the anti-DEI demands of the Trump administration.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">And, he would reverse the \u201cheartbeat law\u201d \u2013 which he shepherded into passage in 2019 \u2013 that officially outlawed most abortions in Georgia once a fetal heartbeat is detected after roughly six weeks of pregnancy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cI was wrong to think a room full of legislators knew better than millions of women on the issue,\u201d Duncan said. \u201cThey don\u2019t. I\u2019ve certainly come to realize in a very real way that women have complicated medical scenarios and deep personal situations that a legislator would never totally ever be able to understand.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Duncan\u2019s evolution on abortion may raise more doubts about his politics than any other policy transformation he has made, a point he readily concedes in campaign forums. The crowded Democratic race for governor has been relatively free of direct confrontation, though Duncan has drawn more fire than most. \u201cHe helped pass the same laws he now opposes,\u201d the state representative Ruwa Romman, a former candidate for governor, told the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ajc.com\/politics\/2025\/08\/how-michael-thurmonds-dekalb-roots-will-help-in-democratic-governors-race\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Atlanta Journal-Constitution<\/a> when Duncan announced his party switch in August. \u201cHe could have expressed these thoughts for years now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Duncan\u2019s former Republican colleagues have not hesitated to call his change of position on abortion and other matters opportunistic, particularly the current lieutenant governor and gubernatorial candidate, Burt Jones.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The two have a history. While Duncan was fighting election challenges, Jones was mounting them. Duncan stripped Jones of a committee chairmanship in 2021; Jones subsequently won the lieutenant governor\u2019s race.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Duncan argues for empathy and a focus on policy. Georgia has to prepare itself for life without the federal government\u2019s partnership. \u201cI think that\u2019s what I hear so often in crowds across the state, day after day after day: \u2018Can you just go do what you\u2019re promising everybody you\u2019re going to do?\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cLook, there\u2019s no stability at the federal government, there\u2019s no friends of ours in the federal government. Donald Trump certainly doesn\u2019t care about Georgia, he only cares about a status for himself in the mirror or using a sock puppet called Burt Jones.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-print-layout=\"hide\" class=\"dcr-qxqnsy\"><span class=\"dcr-1rq3vad\">Explore more on these topics<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-1dzx48f\">\n<ul class=\"dcr-1rrvs2w\">\n<li class=\"dcr-hj8byr\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/state-of-georgia\" class=\"dcr-1gwziyt\">Georgia<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-hj8byr\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/democrats\" class=\"dcr-1gwziyt\">Democrats<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-hj8byr\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/republicans\" class=\"dcr-1gwziyt\">Republicans<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-hj8byr\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/donaldtrump\" class=\"dcr-1gwziyt\">Donald Trump<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-hj8byr\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/us-politics\" class=\"dcr-1gwziyt\">US politics<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-hj8byr\"><a href=\"\/tone\/features\" class=\"dcr-1gwziyt\">features<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dcr-nu129i\"><a href=\"mailto:?subject=%E2%80%98The%20party%20has%20sailed%20its%20ship%E2%80%99:%20ex-Republican%20runs%20as%20Democrat%20for%20Georgia%20governor%E2%80%99s%20seat&amp;body=https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/may\/18\/geoff-duncan-ex-republican-georgia-democratic-primary-governor?CMP=share_btn_url\" class=\"dcr-125qj9d\">Share<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-zhx6xs\"><a data-link-name=\"meta-syndication-article\" href=\"https:\/\/syndication.theguardian.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fus-news%2F2026%2Fmay%2F18%2Fgeoff-duncan-ex-republican-georgia-democratic-primary-governor&amp;type=article&amp;internalpagecode=us-news\/2026\/may\/18\/geoff-duncan-ex-republican-georgia-democratic-primary-governor\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"Reuse this content\" class=\"dcr-14rjinq\">Reuse this content<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"--grid-area:right-column\" data-gu-name=\"right-column\" class=\"dcr-1h2hraq\">\n<div class=\"dcr-tn16h9\">\n<section class=\"dcr-1hko8ef\"><\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Then Georgia lieutenant governor Geoff Duncan on 14 August 2023 in Atlanta. Photograph: Alex Slitz\/AP View image in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1518,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1516"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1516\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1519,"href":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1516\/revisions\/1519"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}