Former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan found himself fielding an all-too familiar question at a recent campaign stop, one he’s faced since before he switched parties and launched a Democratic bid for governor.
How does a former Republican who backed abortion limits, immigration crackdowns and plenty of other conservative priorities now ask Democrats for their vote.
His answer hasn’t changed. He was wrong, he says, and now he’s running to stop President Donald Trump and his agenda.
But the backdrop hinted at the challenge he faces ahead. Duncan was speaking at The Gathering Spot, a cornerstone of Black Atlanta civic life, making his case to the bloc of voters who will decide his political future.
Rather than hedge over his political past, the former GOP leader leaned into it. Again and again, he acknowledged he backed policies that many Democrats oppose and argued his victory would stop a deeper slide toward Trumpism.
“I didn’t hit the wrong button,” was a characteristic answer, this time coming on his past support for a restrictive 2019 anti-abortion law. “I didn’t read the wrong memo. I was wrong.”
His candidacy is naturally tailored to a slice of the electorate that has helped make Georgia the epicenter of battleground politics: white, college-educated suburban voters who once backed Republicans but bolted from the party during Trump’s rise.
But that coalition alone won’t be enough. Any Democrat hoping to capture the seat for the first time in nearly three decades must also secure overwhelming support from Black voters, the backbone of the party’s electorate. And some remain wary of a candidate who built his political career championing the very policies they’ve spent years fighting.
“No Democrat is winning without the Black vote, but I don’t believe Black voters are buying what Geoff Duncan is selling,” said Bianca Keaton, former chair of the Gwinnett County Democrats.
“We don’t need Duncan to save Georgia Democrats. We are the ones who can save ourselves.”
The pushback is intensifying as the May 19 primary nears. Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has emerged as such a clear front-runner that rivals are increasingly focused on securing a second-place spot in a likely June runoff.
That has the rest of the field sharpening their attacks on Duncan.
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Former DeKalb chief executive Michael Thurmond says Duncan’s apologies fall flat, noting he was fighting for Democratic priorities while Duncan was “escorting Donald Trump around Atlanta in a limousine.” Former state Sen. Jason Esteves has zeroed in on what he calls the “elephant in the room.”
“He literally oversaw some of the passage of the worst bills that Georgia Democrats and Georgians have seen in the last decade,” Esteves said. “And instead of doing something about it, when he apparently started to see the light, he decided not to run for reelection.”
Duncan is making an aggressive push to counter that criticism with Black voters. He’s made more than a dozen campaign stops on what supporters wryly call his “apology tour” specifically geared toward Black voters, including visits to Ebenezer Baptist Church, where U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock leads the flock, and meetings with influential community leaders.
And he won the endorsement of the Georgia Men for Democracy Now, a group of influential Black men who based their blessing on his performance at a February forum in south Atlanta.
“We didn’t pick him based on race. We picked him based on who could win the race,” said Kenneth Walker, a former Capitol staffer and philanthropist. “Geoff Duncan can beat any of those Republicans in November. We have a moral obligation to get him elected. We have no choice.”
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Still, skepticism runs deep. Some Democrats cast him as a Trojan horse. Others say he hasn’t yet done enough to build trust with the party’s base. Daniel Blackman, a former federal official and onetime Public Service Commission candidate, said Duncan is “doing the right things in the right rooms” but faces a steep climb to overcome that mistrust.
“He’s an intriguing candidate. The door hasn’t closed in his face yet because no one has proven they can captivate the base yet. No one has taken the mantle,” said Blackman, who is neutral in the race. “We can’t wait much longer, though. I want to see more out of the field. And people want someone with fight.”
DeKalb County Democratic Chair Brandi Wyche is among the roughly 40% of primary voters who are still undecided. She’s not sold on Duncan but, perhaps to her surprise, not counting him out either.
“People need to hear what he plans to do to overcome his past as a Republican,” said Wyche. “People are looking to hear more from him, but they haven’t closed the door.”
Duncan’s challenge is that the voters who decide primaries are not the same ones who decide general elections.
Candidates who appeal to the ideological middle often have an edge in November, a lane Duncan’s suburban, centrist background could help him navigate. But the Democratic primary electorate is smaller, more liberal and anchored by Black voters.
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
“He’s the type of candidate who could be stronger in a general election than a primary,” said Nathan Price, a University of North Georgia political scientist. “The challenge is getting through a primary electorate that looks very different from the voters he’d need to win statewide.”
At The Gathering Spot, Duncan joked that he could have forged an easier path to power than declining to stand for another term as lieutenant governor, campaigning for Kamala Harris as a Republican and then switching parties to run as a Democrat.
He likes to bring up a recent dinner with a retired judge who told him the cases that mattered most were the ones he got wrong.
“If we get this right and flip this state the rest of the country will follow our lead,” Duncan said. “When I’m the nominee I’m going to want to beat the Republicans more than you do. I can promise you that.”
For his allies, that’s the point. The Rev. James Woodall, one of Duncan’s most prominent Black supporters, said he expects many old-guard Democrats to split between Bottoms, Esteves and Thurmond — leaving an opening for Duncan to clinch a runoff spot by appealing to voters so disgusted with Trump they prioritize electability over party pedigree.
“There are enough people who say they want to win, even if they don’t agree on every issue in the past,” said Woodall, a former president of the Georgia NAACP.
“They are tired of losing. And what they see now is more troubling than partisan purity.”
Credit: Patricia Murphy/AJC
Credit: Patricia Murphy/AJC
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