Almost all the Republican candidates in the Georgia Senate race weren’t exactly embracing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) for another term as Republican leader in a debate this weekend.
Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) dodged the question. When pressed, he said he would “support whoever will sign off on my drive to change the status quo.”
Businessman David Perdue, who has become the frontrunner in recent polls of the race, criticized Kingston’s tepid response and said he would not support McConnell in the Saturday debate.
“My answer is no,” Perdue said.
Rep. Paul Broun said he did not know what he would do. Engineer Derrick Grayson said he would not. Former Secretary of State Karen Handel also said she would not. Rep. Phil Gingrey, in a winding response, said he would have to first sit down with every incumbent member of the Senate before he would commit to supporting any one of them for leadership posts.
The lone candidate who said he would support McConnell was lawyer Art Gardner, a long-shot candidate who is unlikely to survive the primary.
“The problem with Sen. McConnell isn’t because he’s ineffective, he’s ineffective because he’s in the minority so I don’t have a problem saying yes,” Gardner said.
The responses came just a few days before the Georgia Senate primary on Tuesday. Recent polling has shown Perdue leading the field. An InsiderAdvantage Poll of the race found Perdue leading with 26 percent support followed by Handel with 18 percent support and Kingston with 17 percent support. If no candidate is able to get 50 percent of the vote in the primary the top two vote-getters face off in a runoff held on July 22.
Here’s video of the GOP candidates on supporting McConnell:
(Photo credit: Youtube)
