Outgoing Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal on Monday announced he wants Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle to succeed him as the state’s top executive.
The endorsement gives a boost to Cagle’s campaign for the Republican nomination for governor just over a week before the polls close on July 24. His opponent in the primary runoff is Secretary of State Brian Kemp.
Standing next to Cagle in the state capitol after an announcement Mercedes-Benz would open a new “innovation lab” in Atlanta, Deal outlined his legacy for reporters, staff, and lobbyists.
He highlighted criminal justice reforms, eliminating a sales tax on energy used for manufacturing, and lowering Georgia’s top income tax rate.
Cagle, Deal said, is the best candidate to “continue this tradition.”
“My concern is let’s not undue, or transform in a negative fashion, the good reforms that have been put in place,” Deal said. “That will be the challenge for the next governor of this state, to not go backwards but to go forward.”
The governor said he thinks highly of both Cagle and Kemp, and that the decision is not personal.
Deal’s predecessor, Republican Sonny Perdue, did not endorse a candidate in the 2010 GOP runoff that pitted Deal against now U.S. Rep. Karen Handel.
“I respect Governor Deal,” said Kemp in an emailed statement. “He built on the success of Governor Perdue and I will continue that progress as Georgia’s next governor.”
Kemp called the endorsement “a last minute attempt to distract voters” from a secret recording” of Cagle.
“Governor Deal remains very popular,” said University of Georgia political science professor Charles Bullock.
Voter turnout in the Republican primary runoff is expected to be low, he said.
“So moving even a rather small number of voters might make a difference,” Bullock said.
The winner of the Republican primary runoff faces Democrat Stacey Abrams in November.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
