Last night in Georgia Tea Party favored David Perdue won a hotly contested primary race against GOP establishment favorite, and U.S. Chamber supported, Jack Kingston.
(Via Politico) Businessman David Perdue upset 11-term Rep. Jack Kingston in Georgia’s Republican Senate runoff Tuesday by a narrow, two-point margin — setting up a general-election race featuring two first-time candidates vying for one of the nation’s most hotly-contested Senate seats.
Kingston delivered a concession speech shortly after 11 p.m. Eastern time. With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Perdue led Kingston, 50.9 percent to 49.1 percent — outside the margin needed to trigger an automatic recount. (continue reading)
How he did it, and what issue Perdue used to push himself over the edge affirms the anxiety within the majority about illegal immigration.
Last week, before the election, this article highlights the strategy:
David Perdue’s closing attack on Jack Kingston in the U.S. Senate runoff takes on the topic of immigration and targets the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
After Perdue described his testy interview with the Chamber this week, he’s gone all out with an accusation that “Kingston’s pro-amnesty vote is bought and paid for” with the $2.3 million the Chamber has spent on ads boosting Kingston’s candidacy.
The Chamber supported the Senate-passed immigration bill last year — which has not moved at all in the U.S. House — but Kingston has repeatedly said he would not vote for the bill. Both candidates have said there should be no more lawmaking until the southwestern border is fully secure.
Yet Kingston also has alleged that Perdue secretly supports “amnesty” by pointing out that a subsidiary of the National Retail Foundation supported an immigration reform bill in 2006 when Perdue was on the NRF board.
For its part, the Chamber says the Senate bill’s 13-year path to citizenship combined with paying a penalty and back taxes does not qualify as “amnesty.” (read more – link)
