TIT-FOR-TAT
- May 26
- 1 min read
While Dem gubernatorial candidate and current Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson has her party’s nomination basically all sewn up, the Republicans are currently eating themselves alive. Witness the back and forth vitriol between leading Republican candidates Congressman John James and businessman Perry Johnson. While most polls acknowledge James is in the lead despite his lackadaisical campaign – rarely showing up with other candidates or at Republican events, fundraising stalling, and barely commenting to media or on social media about the campaign for governor as if it’s something he’s crossing off a list – Johnson continues to swamp the airwaves with self-funded commercials, saturating his image before voters. They each have lobbed accusations against one another that signatures on their petitions to appear on the primary ballot are fraudulent – reminiscent of the scandal which kept Johnson off the 2022 ballot. A Republican expert noted that Johnson’s peitions were “improper in size, and the rules are very specific.” The complaint against Johnson includes duplicate signatures, improper jurisdictions, signature errors and “obvious forgeries.” The complaint against James asserts forgeries, dead people, duplicate signatures and “numerous address and jurisdictional errors.” The board of state canvassers will rule on the petitions at their meeting on May 28. Johnson did take a win against James in a lawsuit where he alleged James had a logo at a campaign event which indicated he is the incumbent governor, with “John James Governor.” The James campaign, the judge said, has to add ‘for Governor.’ “Technically it’s illegal, but likely it was done lazily,” said one politico. “Perry can claim a victory.”
