Move over, Florida: Georgia the new battleground as Trump goes all in

Trump has since waged a personal vendetta against Kemp and Raffensperger for failing to subvert democracy in his favor. He is backing primary challengers David Perdue and Jody Hice, both content to amplify his false claims of voter fraud in their bids to become governor and secretary of state. Some Republicans here remain convinced that the issue is still potent.

Like other incumbent governors, Kemp neutralised the Trump-backed threat by burnishing his own rightwing credentials. He signed a bill that would ban abortions six weeks after conception, imposed fresh voter restrictions and backed a law allowing Georgians to carry guns in public without a license or background check.

Inside the ornate building the walls are lined with portrait after portrait of state governors, all of them white men, one with what appears to be a Confederate flag hanging above his shoulder. There is a bust of Alexander Stephens, vice-president of the Confederate states and later governor of Georgia, and a portrait of the Confederate general Robert E Lee.

A portrait of Atlanta-born Martin Luther King, meanwhile, is tucked away in a corner of the state capitol. An information panel notes that, during most of his lifetime, the capitol was racially segregated and it is uncertain whether he ever entered the building.

But Shelley Wynter, a radio host in Atlanta who recently interviewed Walker in front of an audience, said these stories were unlikely to hurt the candidate because he was upfront about them in a memoir and because political attempts to exploit mental health could backfire.

Whether the Republican nominee for governor, senator and other positions at stake in Georgia on Tuesday is mild-Maga, middle-Maga or ultra-Maga might not make much difference. From Idaho to Nebraska to North Carolina, voters have already shown their willingness to separate Trump from Trumpism when pragmatism demands.