Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “This is not how Georgia Republicans imagined the first days of a pivotal runoff campaign would go. Instead of unity and bonhomie, a full-blown civil war has erupted at a moment when Republicans can least afford it. President Donald Trump is stoking the infighting, leveling false claims about the vote. And resurgent Democrats just narrowly flipped the state for the first time in nearly three decades. Now, a state party already riven by the rivalry between U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler and U.S. Rep. Doug Collins for much of the year is plunged into deeper infighting ahead of Jan. 5 runoffs to decide control of the U.S. Senate. This conflict has bloodied the state’s top elections official, who has gone from a low-profile GOP figure whose name most Georgians could hardly pronounce a few weeks ago to a human litmus test on politics in the Trump-era.”

“To some, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is a hero for defending the integrity of a vote that featured no widespread fraud. To others who believe Trump’s claims, he’s an easy target of derision, the man who allowed the election to be rigged for Democrat Joe Biden in Georgia. The latter view has drawn top Georgia Republicans, who have fixated on Trump’s false narrative that the election was stolen. U.S. Sens. David Perdue and Loeffler – who both rally voters to ‘hold the line’ in the GOP-controlled Senate – led the charge to appease Trump, demanding Raffensperger’s resignation without citing publicly any evidence to justify their calls. Other Republicans have criticized his oversight of the vote, without going so far as to ask for his ouster.”