As midterm election campaigning enters the home stretch, Republican congressional candidates, especially those in swing districts and tight races, are distancing themselves from President Trump. Not Jim Kingston.
Kingston, the Republican candidate in the race to succeed Buddy Carter as Coastal Georgia’s congressman, doesn’t appear worried that the president’s historically low poll numbers, the war with Iran and plummeting consumer confidence will drag down his race against Amanda Hollowell, his Democratic Party opponent.
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Following a closed-door business roundtable at Hawg’s Golf Cart on Savannah’s south side on Wednesday, Kingston told reporters he was running for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives to be a “foot soldier” for Trump — the main talking point for Kingston and his five rivals for the GOP nomination during primary campaigning earlier this year.
The president’s political clout may be showing signs of strain. GOP gubernatorial candidate Rick Jackson didn’t mention Trump’s name even once in a recent 24-minute speech in Savannah. And the banner headline that once stretched across the top of Kingston’s campaign website touting him as Trump’s endorsed candidate has moved down-page. But there it was from the candidate himself on Wednesday, the familiar refrain.
“If the president had all the foot soldiers he needed in the legislative branch, we would not have the challenges that we’re having right now,” Kingston said, standing alongside Gov. Brian Kemp and state first lady Marty Kemp, who attended the roundtable.
‘Not sustainable’
One reason Kingston is bucking a small but growing trend among vulnerable Republican candidates ahead of this November’s elections midterm elections is simply that he can. Recent history is on his side.
Voters in the 1st Congressional District haven’t elected a Democrat to the House in more than three decades. It has never elected a woman or a Black person to Congress, let alone a Black woman. Most significantly, perhaps, in the past three presidential elections Trump has won the region by an average of at least 12 percent of the vote.
Based mostly on that, election analysts and officials from both parties ranked 1st District congressional seat “safely red” even before candidates from either party began throwing their hats in the ring last year.
Hollowell said she is pushing hard to defy that assessment. Her message is popular, she told The Current in an interview Friday, citing for example, the historically high prices for diesel fuel. In a region of Georgia that relies so heavily on transporting goods by truck, the current situation “is not sustainable. Trump is hurting us.”
She said she is working to reach voters “in every corner of the district” and deploying “as many tools as possible,” whether it’s billboards, texting, phone-banking, or canvassing door-to-door.
“We’re doing everything but TV,” she told The Current on Friday. “We can’t afford it.”
In an exchange of emails with the Kingston campaign’s Chris D’Aniello, The Current asked for comment from either him or the candidate on the themes covered in this story. They didn’t respond by the deadline for publication.
Carefully curated events
As campaigning moves into its final weeks, Kingston appears to be sticking to the sagging Trump brand for another reason: He has few alternatives.
Republicans who have their own political identity and a track record of community service can afford to play down their ties to Trump and still succeed at the polls in November.
But Kingston’s resume is spotty on both counts. At 36, he’s young for a member of Congress. He’s never held elected office. He returned to Coastal Georgia full-time last year. He owes much of his success in the party primary, where name recognition is paramount, to being the son of longtime Coastal Georgia Congressman Jack Kingston. While his family’s footprint is deep in the region, his isn’t.
Much as he did during the primary, Kingston is running a carefully curated, just-visible-enough campaign that highlights the candidate’s work ethic.
He’s piggybacking off on campaign appearances by up-ticket Republican candidates such as Collins and gubernatorial candidate Rick Jackson. His campaign appearances revolve around small groups of people at invitation-only, boutique events, all of it appearing aimed at limiting the candidate’s unscripted moments. It’s a solo undertaking, as far as Kingston’s former rivals for the GOP nomination — are concerned. There’s no sign they’re stumping for him.
Money is certain to play an important role in the campaign’s waning days. Hollowell had $7,388 as of June 30, the end of the most recent reporting period, while Kingston had $294,092, according to the Federal Election Commission. More recent data on political contributions for federal candidates will be available from the FEC later this month.
These figures don’t include spending by outside groups. A pro-AI, pro-data center super PAC, Leading the Future, pledged $1.5 million to Kingston’s campaign in April, Fox News reported.
Locally, Kingston critics, led by onetime Democratic primary candidate Randy Zurcher, have formed the Savannah Liberty PAC and launched an anti-Kingston website, called “Nepo Baby Kingston.” Its efforts include an anti-Kingston billboard on Ogeechee Road in Savannah.
‘Back and forth with them right now’
Because candidate debates and forums are unpredictable, it’s no surprise that Kingston, who due to history, money, and name recognition is the perceived frontrunner in the race, continues to mull over the possibility of one with Hollowell.
At the business roundtable in Savannah on Wednesday, as well as a day earlier at a reception for Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mike Collins in Brunswick, Kingston was keeping open the possibility.
He said he was happy to debate his opponent. “I believe my team is going back and forth with them right now,” he told a reporter for WJCL, apparently referring to station officials.
For her part, Hollowell told The Current she was ready to debate Kingston anytime and anywhere. WSAV, along with WJCL, were still in discussions with Kingston to schedule a debate or forum, Hollowell’s campaign manager said.
As of Saturday, however, neither WJCL nor any other outlet had scheduled a debate.
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