Former GOP Ga. Lt. Gov. Duncan to Back Biden Over Trump

Republican former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, who served under Gov. Brian Kemp for one term from 2019-2023, said Monday he will be backing President Joe Biden in November's election and doesn't understand why so many in the GOP stand behind Donald Trump.

"The GOP will never rebuild until we move on from the Trump era, leaving conservative [but not angry] Republicans like me no choice but to pull the lever for Biden," Duncan wrote in an op-ed for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "At the same time, we should work to elect GOP congressional majorities to block his second-term legislative agenda and provide a check and balance."

Duncan, who declined to run for re-election with Kemp in 2022, said Trump "has disqualified himself through his conduct and his character" and that he "fanned the flames of unfounded conspiracy theories that led to the horrific events of Jan. 6, 2021."

"It's disappointing to watch an increasing number of Republicans fall in line behind [Trump]," Duncan wrote. "This includes some of his fiercest detractors, such as U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, and former U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr, who raised eyebrows during a recent interview by vowing to support the 'Republican ticket.'

"This mentality is dead wrong."

Duncan, who turned down an offer to be part of the No Labels unity presidential ticket, said some reluctant Trump supporters will cite policy differences with Biden or Trump's first-term accomplishments such as tax cuts and the three appointments to the Supreme Court. Or they will mention the chaos gripping the nation's college campuses with anti-Israel protests.

But Duncan, who testified in front of the Fulton County grand jury that indicted Trump on charges of allegedly trying to interfere in the state's 2020 election results, wrote the last year of Trump's presidency was "hardly a time of tranquility," claiming Trump stoked racial unrest by saying ""when the looting starts, the shooting starts."

He added that Trump's walk on June 1, 2020, while carrying a Bible from the White House to St. John's Episcopal Church, which had been set on fire by protesters the previous night, "further set the nation ablaze."

"The healing of the Republican Party cannot begin with Trump as president [and that's aside from the untold damage that potentially awaits our country]," Duncan wrote. "A forthcoming Time magazine cover story lays out in stark terms 'the outlines of an imperial presidency that would reshape America and its role in the world.'

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

Newsmax reached out to Trump's campaign for comment.