Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger refused to dismiss the possibility of voting for former President Donald Trump in 2024 on Tuesday night, even though Raffensperger claimed earlier this year that Trump threatened him and subjected his family to death threats.
Following Trump’s defeat in the 2020 presidential election, the mild-mannered Raffensperger was suddenly thrust into the national spotlight as the soon-to-be ex-president pressured the Republican state official to “find 11,780 votes” and overturn Georgia’s electoral results.
Raffensperger repeatedly pushed back against Trump’s efforts to reverse President Joe Biden’s victory, and in so doing became a villainous figure in MAGA world and received threats against his family. The secretary has also detailed how Trump attempted to “bully” and threaten him into finding more votes during their infamous Jan. 2 call.
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Still, Raffensperger indicated Tuesday night on Peacock’s The Mehdi Hasan Show that he could potentially be swayed to vote for Trump if he becomes the 2024 GOP presidential nominee.
“You’ve said for a year that you voted for Donald Trump in 2020,” Peacock host Mehdi Hasan asked the Georgia official. “So if he, as looks likely, is the Republican candidate again in 2024, will you vote for him again?”
Raffensperger deflected, claiming that it is “so far out in the future” and then attempting to switch the subject, prompting Hasan to circle back and press the issue.
“You’ve done a masterful job of avoiding a lot of my questions,” the progressive host declared. “So I’m gonna ask it again: If Donald Trump is the candidate—you told me at the start of the interview you’re a Republican, you’re a conservative—are you gonna vote for this guy?”
Once again saying the election’s “so far out in the future,” Raffensperger claimed he hadn’t “even thought about that” and said he was more focused on his own re-election bid next year.
“You’re not ruling it out, which is astonishing to me,” Hasan fired back. “This is a guy who incited violence against you and your family, and you’re considering maybe voting for him? You’re not saying tonight, ‘No way am I ever voting for that guy?’”
After an awkward few seconds of silence, Raffensperger claimed he “didn’t really understand” Hasan’s question, leading the veteran journalist to try one final time to get a definitive response from his guest.
“We’re out of time and I’ll ask it one more time: Can you say emphatically tonight that you will not vote in 2024 for the man who you say threatened you, incited threats against you?” Hasan pressed.
Raffensperger, again, would not rule out the possibility.
“I believe in 2024, we’ll have a person that can grow the party because we didn’t have 50 percent of the popular vote for a long period of time,” he replied. “We need to grow our party. We need to figure out how to do that because so we have an attractive message that actually embraces people, expands the base, and we can make sure that we win the 50 plus one percent of the people, plus win the electoral college.”
