Former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan breaks ranks with GOP, endorses Biden

ATLANTA — Former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan’s decision to endorse President Joe Biden’s reelection furthered his split with the GOP and disgusted Georgia Republicans who once saw him as a rising political star.

The one-term Republican has long been a critic of Donald Trump, but his op-ed in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Monday cemented a deep internal schism with the party over the former president’s comeback bid.

“Every village has a useful idiot,” said Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, a Trump loyalist who has feuded with his predecessor for years. “I guess the Democrat party has found theirs.”

Democrats, meanwhile, welcomed Duncan’s stance, mindful that Biden’s narrow 2020 victory in Georgia hinged on support from disaffected Republicans and swing voters. With polls showing a tight rematch, state Sen. Elena Parent, D-Dekalb, said Duncan’s views represent “moral clarity.”

Duncan’s endorsement also raised speculation that he could be auditioning for a role as a de facto GOP spokesman for Biden, much as former Georgia Gov. Zell Miller, a Democrat, played for President George W. Bush when he delivered the keynote speech at the 2004 Republican National Convention.

While many Georgia Republicans who faced Trump’s wrath are reluctantly supporting him, Duncan wrote that the former president “has disqualified himself through his conduct and his character” by seeking to overturn his election defeat and encouraging the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

“Unlike Trump, I’ve belonged to the GOP my entire life,” he wrote. “This November, I am voting for a decent person I disagree with on policy over a criminal defendant without a moral compass.”

Duncan, who briefly flirted with a “No Labels” third-party presidential bid, will join the Politically Georgia podcast on WABE at 10 a.m. on Tuesday to discuss his position.

His declaration marked a clear break from Gov. Brian Kemp, Attorney General Chris Carr and other Republicans who are backing Trump’s reelection bid despite their personal differences. Trump recruited loyalists who unsuccessfully challenged Carr and Kemp in 2022.

Kemp, for one, has repeatedly said he’ll vote for Trump in November “because he’s better than Biden” — though it’s a tenuous truce.

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