ATLANTA (AP) -- The secretary of state whose recorded phone call with Donald Trump in the 2020 election's chaotic aftermath made international headlines is running to become Georgia's next governor.
He released an announcement video and launched a new website to go along with the campaign.
The wealthy engineering entrepreneur might appeal most to business-oriented Republicans who once dominated GOP primaries in Georgia, but he is pledging a strongly conservative campaign even while he remains scorned by Trump and his allies.
Raffensperger's entry into the field intensifies the primary in a state with an unbroken line of Republican governors since 2002.
"I'm a conservative Republican, and I'm prepared to make the tough decisions. I follow the law and the Constitution, and I'll always do the right thing for Georgia no matter what," Raffensperger said in an announcement video.
Raffensperger defied Trump's wrath to win reelection in 2022, but he will again test GOP primary voters' tolerance for a candidate so clearly targeted by the president. His first challenge may be to even qualify for the primary. Georgia's Republican Party voted in June to ban Raffensperger from running under its banner; although the party chairman said that attempt might not go anywhere.
Raffensperger enters a GOP gubernatorial primary that already has Attorney General Chris Carr and Lt. Gov. Burt Jones in the race to become Georgia's 84th governor. Jones, already endorsed by President Donald Trump, has a strong fundraising advantage over Carr despite the outgoing attorney general being the first Republican to enter the campaign.
On the other side of the aisle, six Democrats -- former DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond, former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, state Sen. Jason Esteves, state Rep. Derrick Jackson; businessman/pastor Olu Brown; and Republican-turned-Democrat and former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan -- are running for governor. All are minority candidates with strong ties to Atlanta.
Raffensperger pledges what he calls a "bold conservative agenda," including eliminating the state income tax, capping property taxes for seniors, banning drugs that block puberty from gender-affirming care and purging "woke curriculums" from schools. He also promises to work with Trump to increase jobs, deport immigrants with criminal records and "restore law and order."
Last month, Gabe Sterling, who had served as chief operating officer for the secretary of state's office for six years, left his position to start his own consulting firm.
In 2020, after losing Georgia to Democrat Joe Biden by less than 17,000 votes, Trump unleashed a fury of criticism on Kemp and Raffensperger, at one point making a now-infamous phone call to the secretary of state in which he asked Raffensperger to find him enough votes to carry Georgia.
Raffensperger refused to do so, and Sterling, who made frequent appearances and issued public statements in the election's aftermath, famously warned Trump and Republican leaders that someone was "going to get hurt, someone's going to get shot, someone's going to get killed."
Sterling directly addressed Trump, telling him it was his responsibility to "stop inspiring people to commit potential acts of violence."
That call and other alleged efforts made by Trump to overturn the 2020 presidential election results led to a historic indictment of the 45th president and more than a dozen of his GOP allies from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, an indictment that is now under review by the Georgia Court of Appeals.