Jordan Fuchs on the GOP’s 2026 Challenges and Brad Raffensperger’s Future

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Welcome to Politically Georgia from the Atlanta Journal Constitution. I'm Greg Bluestin. Georgia Republicans head toward November in an unusual position. Donald Trump carried the state two years ago. Republicans remained the dominant force in statewide government. and yet there are unmistakable signs of anxiety inside the party. Republican Senate nominee Mike Collins trails Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff in every major public poll. Rick Jackson's neck and neck with Kishelands' Scott Bottoms, Democrats are showing signs of life up and down the ballot. We heard some of that anxiety at this weekend's Tillman rally in Rome, where Republican activists openly talked about an enthusiasm problem heading into November. So what does all that tell us about the Republican Party in Georgia right now? Jim Jordan Fuchs has watched the party evolve from inside for years. She's a veteran Republican strategist and a top deputy to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. Jim Jordan, welcome back to Politically Georgia. Glad to be back. This is going to be a fun show. This will be. So Jim Jordan, like, give us your diagnosis of where Republicans are right now. Is this? Is this a 50-50 state? Is this state tilting towards Democrats heading into November? Where do you think it stands? Just on raw numbers, I think that the Democrats do have an advantage. You also have the national temperature that's happening around the country. And there are many people who are saying that this is likely to be a referendum on Trump, not so much a conversation about the local Republicans, but really about national tone and what's happening in Washington. Now, we're going to get into a lot more about Trump later and especially your role. But you've been on the wrong side of Trump's wrath plenty of times before in your capacity as basically the top aide to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. How much do you think this race will be these top races for Senate, for governor, even legislative seats will be a referendum on Trump? My personal opinion, I think it's very likely that the feeling of what is going on in people's pockets books, there was a recent focus group done, I think Jamie Dupree was writing about it the other day, that people know how much they're spending down to the dime. And so when people are focused on their pocketbook issues, what's going on, how much gas is costing them. And the prices at the grocery store, people are really concerned. And they heard all of the promises a couple of years ago of, you know, there's going to be a chicken in every pot and no taxes this and no taxes that. And they're waiting for those promises to be delivered and they haven't seen some of those. So it's concerning for the midterms. We'll see what happens. Are you hearing any Republicans with those sort of compelling messages that?

that voters need to hear? Or do you think they're focused on the wrong thing? I think the candidate that's really breaking through, mainly because of money and really, really great messaging is probably Rick Jackson. He is talking about lowering property taxes. He's talking about all the things that Brad also ran on in the primary. And that is something that's definitely needed to get through the general election. So he's... He is creating policies that answer to that need. And it's pretty impressive that he's breaking through all the noise of a general election in order to get it done. Yeah, $100 plus million. We'll help that. And we saw his latest campaign finance reports. Actually, he's not leaning yet, at least, on his own wallet. but he is leaning on more donations from the Republican Governors Association. So he'll be well-stocked. But let's talk about the other side of that marquee Republican race, and that is this race for Senate, Mike Collins. Why are Republicans so nervous about his fate right now? I think he took a little too long to answer a lot of really interesting questions about his personal staffers, about people around him. He took, what, a week to get a response out related to some statements that his son-in-law made. And... And you know this. I mean, it's not just 24 hours that you got to get an answer out. It's within minutes before you start getting to find. And so I think his team did a disservice by waiting. I don't know who made the call over there. But having that void out there for more than a week was pretty damning to him. And, you know, just look at the raw numbers. Awesome. And some of the public polling I've seen is up 11 points, maybe eight points. It's within the margin. And then just the anecdotal things that I'm hearing around the state, Osshoff personally calls people all the time to say, happy birthday. Hey, man, I saw you lost. You ran a good race. I hope you try again. These are things that connect with people, and it's memorable. So. And not to mention, he had two Republican mayors recently endorse him. So that's going to hit Susan Collins pretty hard at the end of the day. And I don't believe in saying races are completely over. People said that about Brad Raffensperger in 2022. So I don't personally do that to other teams. I've seen. amazing recoveries. I don't think that's going to be the case here in the Senate race. I think there's too many forces going against Mike in that particular race. That's interesting. So, I mean, is there anything, and you look, you're not only your deputy to Brad Raffensperger, you're also a Republican operative, has been involved in many, many campaigns, including, including that 2022 campaign where everyone thought,

So how real is the Republican enthusiasm gap? I asked that because I was at the Tillman rally a couple days ago in Rome. It was a theme that kept on coming up by the candidates on the stage saying there is no enthusiasm gap. Republicans are locked in. But we have seen. Not just polls, but, you know, there's plenty of anecdotal evidence. And there's concern just like I mentioned from Republicans about even Republicans either staying home or holding their nose and voting for Jon Ossoff in some of these in the Senate race, but also we're hearing some of that down the ticket. Is there really enthusiasm gap? Are Republicans equally concerned about swing voters as they are in galvanizing their own base? I talked to these folks all day long, and I was on a flight back home a couple of days ago, and this MAGA guy asked me, you know, what do you do? And I told him, and I'm very proud of what I've done and what I've accomplished. And he paused for a second, and he was like, who's running? And I told him who all is running, you know, Mike Collins, da-da-da. And he's like, I'm really not interested in. anything that's happening right now. And that's normal around this time. You and I live and breathe politics. It's something that is fun and really interesting. The average person is not thinking about any of us right now. They'll start paying attention in the next couple of months. What I would be concerned about is the temperament in Metro Atlanta, that turnout in Metro Atlanta. You saw kind of a suppressed turnout in the primary. I don't think that fares well for Republicans if that continues. And I meet Republican women every day who really struggle with some of the messaging that is coming at them from the fringes of our party. And that doesn't really inspire too many of us to come out and vote. So some of these candidates are going to have to address that apathy. So at Tillman, we heard warnings about communists, about socialists, taking over the Democratic Party, about banning Sharia law, about transgender bathrooms, about ending birthright citizenship. There was other messages, too, but Jim Jordan, I mean, I could have taken those same lines and transplanted them to a campaign from eight years ago or 12 years ago. You know, are Republicans kind of shopping the antique aisle? And this is what it's a phrase my, one of my editors used, are they shopping in the antique aisle of political messaging and not focused enough on the pocketbook concerns that are happening right now? Or is that a useful way to energize the base with tried and true methods saying that your opponents are communists and that Sharia law needs to be banned, even though it's not really any sort of threat of being instilled in Georgia right now? Look, a lot of these guys are creating messaging based off of polling that they've seen at the end of the day. And I've worked with a lot of these consultants. Many of them are really great. Many of them, you know, they're just reacting to sentiment that they're seeing in.

Republican polling. And so that's where a lot of that messaging comes from. And if it sounds like it's consistent, it's probably issues that people are consistently talking about within the Republican Party. One of the things that, you know, you've You've even kind of criticized our office about is focusing so heavily on non-citizen voting. And when we, when we looked at that issue, people are wildly concerned, even on the left, about that particular topic. And so we met that need. It was a poll tested issue. We knew that it was something that the Republicans are really concerned about. And Brad led on that issue as early as 2018. And so we were the first state to really, really push on that. But... The liberal media really hated that issue. They didn't want us to really talk about it. They thought it was inflated. But when you have open borders, those are the type of issues that start really bubbling up and people have problems with. But is there a risk going beyond the non-citizen voting? Because I, of course, agree that that is a major issue to many voters across the political spectrum. But going at like Sharia law. Going at transgender bathrooms and transgender rights, which we've heard for the last, I don't know, it feels like a dozen years, centering, I mean, it was sort of the opening line for Herschel Walker's campaign four years ago. Is focusing on that the right move for Republicans right now? Not completely focusing. I'm not pretending like they're not talking about other issues. But is that sort of intense focus on those issues that I heard, I've heard at many rallies, but including the one just a couple days ago, is that risk? you know overshadowing other issues that are more important to voters like pocketbook issues Those are the issues that some of our voters care about. The vast majority of the polling that I've seen, it is about the war in Iran, and then also the pocketbook issues. And in particular, the issue related to property taxes. We've seen exploding property taxes all over Fulton County and Cobb County. I've seen it personally. And for a lot of these older voters, that... make up the majority of a Republican primary.

they are uniquely concerned about it because they're on a fixed income. And so as the government continues to tax them, they have to sit down and re-budget and re-budget again to find out, well, where is this extra $400 going to come from this time? So I think you're going to see more of these candidates focus on those issues. I can't speak to the Republican primaries. Brad didn't run on some of those far more far-right issues. He ran on. pocketbook issues at the end of the day. So I can't directly speak to the specifics on the Sharia law. Well, let's talk more about Brad Raffensperger, your experience doing the Republican primary and also just your history with the Secretary of State's office after a quick break. This is Politically Georgia with the Atlanta Journal Constitution. This episode is brought to you by Facebook. So you were scrolling on Marketplace, and there it was, the bike you'd been searching for. You sent a message, and it turned out the seller was super chatty, kind of funny, and an avid cyclist. The next thing you know, you're in a cycling crew, well, a community cycling group. The thing about Facebook, you might find more than what you're looking for. From a browse to a bike ride, this summer find more on Facebook. From the heart of Georgia, it's AJC flagship, new stories, new voices, and a whole new way to hear the news. Is the southern drawl disappearing? Who really has the best biscuit in Atlanta? Will this be the South Times Square? AJC flagship. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. Hey y'all, I'm Nadja Parker, co-host of the It's UATL podcast, powered by the AJC. Hey, y'all. Hello. Ooh, we're twins. Twins. Where we break down the stories, trends, and conversations shaping black culture in Atlanta and across the south. From music and entertainment to politics, relationships, and community issues, if it's happening in the culture, we're talking about it. Listen to It's UATL wherever you get your podcast.

Welcome back to Politically Georgia. I'm Greg Bluestin. Before we move on, a quick thanks to everyone who subscribes to the Land of Journal of Constitution. Your support helps make Politically Georgia possible. If you're not a subscriber yet, you can join us at AJC.com slash start for full access to our reporting, newsletters, and even some exclusive subscriber events. That's AJC.com slash start. Jim Jordan Fuchs did not watch the fight over Georgia's 2020 election from the sidelines. She was in the Secretary of State's office during one of the most extraordinary periods in Georgia political history. She was, of course, on the famous phone call where Brad Raffesberger pressured, pushed back on pressure from Donald Trump to find enough votes to overturn his defeat. Six years later, Georgia is still fighting over the same election and the same outcome. Why can't... Georgia put 2020 behind it. Jim Jordan Fuchs is back with us. Okay, I want to get into that, but I also want to ask you, you know Brad Raffensperger better than anyone, it seems, except for maybe his wife, Tricia. So you know the story of his primary better than just about anyone else. Were you surprised that he'd never gain traction with this epic battle between Bert Jay Jones and Rick Jackson? And, you know, were you one of the folks who thought he had, I'm assuming you did, but who thought he had a very credible shot before Rick Jackson got in the race? I think he's a great candidate. I've worked for the family for quite some time. I think I started working for Brad and Trisha on his first state house race when I was 25. And so I've worked with them for more than 10 years. And I know their character. They're great people. He's a Christian. When he says something, he means it. And that's a rare, rare thing. I've worked for a lot of candidates. And I don't think I would have ever worked 12 years with anybody, unless they had an enormous amount of character. And so. At the end of the day, I think with regards to this race, it came down to money. And, you know, I've had a lot of people ask me to do a post-mortem and, you know, analyze this and analyze that. I don't need to analyze much. It's just when you have $150 million dumped on you, it's very hard to get a message out. You know, you try to do it every day when you're competing with other people and other podcasts or whatever. it's very hard to break through all of that in ways. And so what we saw was a once in a lifetime kind of event. And now I'm asking myself, you know, if this ever happened again and more billionaires jump in and try to just buy a race, how do good candidates break through that noise? And I haven't figured out how to answer that. And I don't think anybody really is going to find that answer anytime soon.

Yeah, I mean, other billionaires have dumped that kind of money on the race. Well, dump big money in the race, maybe not as much as Rick Jackson in this cycle in a state election like in Georgia. But we've seen candidates overcome that kind of spending before, just not in this election. And also, Rick Jackson was the number six spender of any entity. So that gives you an idea. You know, that's including like Republican mega groups and Washington PACs and that kind of thing as well. It wasn't just spending. And I think it would be an oversimplification if I just said that. And I have to give them credit that they had a lot of stealth to their campaigns. They kind of came out of the blue. They hit Bert right where Bert needed to be hit. And it was interesting to watch from the outside. So, you know, congratulations to that whole team and Brian Robinson and Jade. They've worked really hard and they earned it. At the end of the day, the reason why Brad got into this race was probably the same reason that Rick got into the race. We saw an opportunity. We saw that Bert was a weak candidate, had spent about a year and a half campaigning and hadn't locked down the electorate. And Bert had every built-in advantage there. He had his dad's funding. He had another billionaire's endorsement who happened to be president. And so he had all of these built-in advantages. And at the end of the day, what a lot of people have said and said for a long time is that Bert doesn't like to do the work. And... That became very clear come December when he started getting attacked. And there was a vacuum there. They left. They were silent, right? Bert said nothing for months. And then they started hitting back. And so they had a real, real shot, real opportunity. I think they know that. I think that Bert led on those decisions. He had really great people around him. Lurian is fantastic. Chip Blake, I'm a huge fan of. And they're both incredibly talented. And at the end of the day, candidates win and lose. And Bert made a couple of errors. You felt they should have hit back harder. Meanwhile, you guys were sort of the collateral damage of them. I mean, Rick Jackson went after Athensburg at the beginning of the race and then mostly, you know, focused on Bert Jay Jones in his own campaign. But given that, I mean, look, even before Rick Jackson in the race and surprised seemingly everyone, including me. We were looking at Secretary Brad Raffensperger and Attorney General Chris Carr as, of course, formidable contenders, but it was Bert Jay Jones who seemed like he was the runaway frontrunner. What was going to be the plan to overcome Bert Jay Jones with MAGA loyalists who cherish the president's endorsement? Of course, the president endorsed Bert Jay Jones last year.

Look, we were looking at the same polls that Rick was looking at the end of the day. And so what the polls were showing is there were a lot of people, a lot of Republicans willing to vote for somebody who was not endorsed by Donald Trump. And I think that that is the conversation that people have been missing is that even though Bert had the endorsement, had it very early on. was running for a year. He still did not shore up that support. And so there was an opportunity for somebody who was not endorsed by Donald Trump to get into this race and dominate it. And unfortunately, we're not billionaires over here. And so Rick got in the race and poured, I don't know, what was your last number? I think it was 120, 150. I mean, officially, more than $108 million, according to his campaign finance report. But, you know, there. Tens of millions more were either spent by him or allies, right? There was the integrity group that spent $20 million bashing Bert Jay Jones even from even before Rick Jackson under the race. There are folks who thought you guys were behind that. I've asked you, but you had nothing to do with that integrity. Do you right? No, I would be retired if that were the case. No. So call it a cool, what, 130 million that they spent across all entities. And that was pretty significant. And what this race really does show is that... you can have zero name ID, go from zero to 100, and still win a Republican primary. And that is interesting. And I think the business community is going to be looking at that for quite some time. And, you know, the broader Republican donors are having the conversation of how do we compete with that if that ever happens again. So we shall see. I don't have the answers. Somebody does. And, you know. We live to move on. Yeah, that's interesting, though, how he can maybe forge a path for others if, of course, he's successful in November, which remains a giant open question. Jim Jordan, you know, there were, of course, though, and you know, and you've encountered plenty of them, plenty of MAGA loyalists, plenty of Trump supporters who still hold the grudge against your boss, against you, against the office for 2020. Why does the 2020 election still have that sort of? power to hold so many Georgia Republicans in its thrall all these years later because we wrote this story. It feels like half dozen times that the 2020 election still is animating, still is factoring in to Georgia politics even now in 26. I think a lot of it has largely been overstated and dissipated over time. Look, we have a great relationship with the White House right now. In fact, we were the ones to talk to them about

how do you save and focus on this issue of non-citizen voting and actually identifying real non-citizens and getting them off the voter rolls. And the White House credits our office with creating that process. So as far as 2020, look, people have moved on. I've moved on. I think largely they have moved on as well. And the folks who really like talking about this every day is the media, because it's interesting and it's historical. As far as, you know, I would quibble with that, right? There is an ongoing FBI investigation into Fulton County ballots. And there was a raid not a few months ago. There are legitimate concerns, I think even now, the Justice Department. could be looking at your boss, right? I mean, this is, I remember walking the halls of the Capitol and having Republicans come up to me after the FBI raid and be very concerned that there could be indictments of sitting, you know, elections officials in Georgia. And they were worried, of course, it was basically a Republican witch hunt. So I would quibble with the argument that it is a media obsession, especially when we have candidates running for top offices. including Mike Collins, who said that Trump won the 2020 election. Well, he didn't. And so we're in a state where we audited, we recounted, we recounted again. We had an independent audit. And we looked into all of these claims and we found that a lot of the things that were being stated were overstated. And, you know, one of the great things that our team did was implement a system that can be audited. And I can't imagine what. that 2020 election would have looked like if we had the DRE systems. Remember, a couple of years ago, we just had a voting voting machine that the only confirmation that your vote counted was a beep, you know. pushed a button and it made a noise. And so now what we have is a physical paper ballot system that is auditable. We have added another layer to that where it's an independent audit that looks at every single ballot and confirms the accuracy of it. And what I found interesting about the group that has been pushing for handmarked paper ballots. literally since Kathy Cox was in office. It's been a while. She hasn't been in the office in a while. But they've been pushing this issue for quite some time, and they've been successful in building a coalition with the MAGA group.

And it sounds like they're going to be wildly successful at implementing handmark paper ballots into the system. What a lot of people don't realize is the why behind why they really want that. And it is my opinion and a lot of people that... They want the errors that come with handmark paper ballots. There's something called an over vote and undervote. You know, they want to relive that Bush v. Gore days where you can go in and litigate against a ballot and throw out ballots that you don't like. Whereas right now, you have a uniform system that is tested and we've reviewed it. We've looked into it. We've audited it. And at the end of the day, it is accurate. And, you know, what a lot of people forget is, is Trump won on the voting machines. He had spent all summer long in 2020. talking about how you can't trust the absentee ballots. So it moved people to go vote in person. And so he had won on those voting machines. And then when all those absentee ballots came in and were counted, that's when the state went for Biden in 2020. Of course, that was during the pandemic where there was an even larger number of absentee ballots than Georgia's usually used to. And Jim Jordan, you have spent a tremendous amount. part of your career on voter integrity, on ballot security, on these issues that are basically the underpinning of our democracy. Next year, when your boss has gone, when you were likely no longer involved in day-to-day state government, there will be a huge debate under the Gold Dome about what to do in the future. You hinted at this, but as your message to lawmakers, your plea to lawmakers to kind of stay the course with Georgians' election system? I don't have a message for them at the end of the day. They're going to have to own their decisions. And if, you know, if that, if they want to pass handmarked paper ballots, that's up to them at the end of the day. That's, you know, it's going to be difficult to reeducate all of those election officials on that process. But it's very doable. And I do have questions about. why they would want handmark paper ballots, because it's more people in the process, more likelihood for errors, more people touching your ballot. And so it's an interesting thing to watch these activists push for this. based on claims that the election was stolen in 2020 and that they don't trust Fulton County and they don't trust this and they don't trust. Well, Fulton County is going to be even more involved in handmarked paper ballots and counting and hand counting and that sort of thing. So it's interesting. I don't think it's my mission anymore. I'm going to be moving on. So is Brad. So is Gabe and all of us.

These are the types of things that you see people focus on when you know your team is losing. And we saw that with Roy Barnes. I had a meeting with one of his team members years ago. And I had the guts to ask him. Is this what this looks like when the state's flipping? And he said, yeah, yeah, you know, you got to start redistricting and you got to do this. And people start contesting whether or not they trust voting machines. And in the reality of it is Georgia has changed. And a lot of people haven't realized that. Come to Atlanta. Take a drive around and see what's going on here. Our population is booming. And it has radically changed in the last 10 years. And that's been something that even my grandparents know. You know, my grandmother's lived in Tucker Carlson since the 70s and things have radically changed around her. You know, DeKalb County was a Republican county at one point. Think of that. Same with Cobb, same with Quinnette. Do you see a political future for Brad Raffensperger? Do you think he's hanging up his political hat, so to speak, after the cycle, or do you think he runs again? He's far from done. At the end of the day, you know, I could push him to run. It has to be his decision. And it's something that he has to decide on. And who knows? I don't think that he's ready to have that conversation with me or anybody. It's going to be down to, you know, what he and Trisha end up deciding. And if they want to run again, I'm right there. I'm ready to run for them all over again. So. It'll be interesting to see and see how November shapes up. Jim Jordan Fuge, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for having me. That's going to do it for today's edition of Politically Georgia. If you have a question you'd like to ask us here on the podcast, remember, you can always call our hotline anytime, leave a question, and we'll play it back and answer it right here on the show during our Monday mailbag segment. The number is 7708105297. YouTube viewers, welcome to our channel, and please click the subscribe button so you never miss an episode. You can follow the Politically Georgia podcast on Apple Spotify or any podcast platform. Wherever you're listening, we always appreciate your comments, your ratings, and reviews. We'll talk to you next time on the Politically Georgia podcast from the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

Thanks for listening to the Politically Georgia podcast. Our executive producer is Shane Backler. AJC's head of audio is Sam Stamler. Production support from our partners at Goat Rodeo, including Kara Shillan, Hazel Hoffman, and Max Mike Johnston. For more of our political coverage, visit AJC.com slash Politically Georgia, and we invite you to support local journalism by subscribing to the AJC. Join us again next time on the Politically Georgia podcast from the Lancaster Journal Constitution. From the heart of Georgia. from the newsroom that knows this state best. It's AJC Flagship, the new podcast from the Atlanta Journal Constitution. Every week, new voices. Atlanta didn't invent chicken wings, but we put lemon pepper on the map. New stories. For the first time, I'm having to rethink my Waffle House order. And a whole new way to hear the news. Most people don't even know this place exists unless they're going to buy like 500 dresses. Flagship, your front row seat to the substance and soul of the South. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. Hey y'all, I'm Nadja Parker, co-host of the It's UATL podcast, powered by the AJC. Hey, y'all. Hello. Ooh, twins. Twins. Alongside AJC reporters Nedra Rohn and DeAsia Page, we break down the stories, trends, and conversations shaping black culture in Atlanta and across the south. If you've ever stepped foot here, you know, like, if you're going to find diversity amongst black culture, you're going to find it in Atlanta. From music and entertainment to politics, relationships, and community issues, if it's happening in the culture, we're talking about it. If you are going to hire a hitman, pay him, pay him. In full. Listen to It's UATL wherever you get your podcast. I need you to teach me the leg thing you do. You do that leg. Oh, I stand up and put one foot to the ear. Yes, I shall be like it.