Today’s DNC appearance by former Georgia Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan brings to an end quite a journey for this longtime Republican politician. Before 2020, he was a typical conservative Republican who had risen from the state legislature to the second-highest position in Georgia government, likely expecting to take the big job when Governor Brian Kemp (like Duncan, first elected in 2018) finished his term in 2026. Then came the 2020 presidential election, and like Kemp and Secretary of State Brian Raffensperger, Duncan supported the certification of Joe Biden’s narrow victory in Georgia’s presidential election and opposed Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the result.

But when Donald Trump announced he would launch a purge of disloyal Republicans in Georgia in 2022, Duncan decided to abandon his re-election campaign, even though Kemp and Raffensperger crushed their Trump surrogate opponents in the primaries and were handily re-elected. At that point, Duncan seemed a little foolish and irresponsible.

But fast forward to 2024, and Kemp and Raffensperger are looking a bit foolish and irresponsible. Republicans nationally are back in full Trump hands, and they hold major positions of power in Georgia, where MAGA people control the State Election Board (from which Raffensperger was kicked out by the Republican-dominated state legislature). All indications are that Trump is preparing to wreak havoc in the Peach State vote count in November. Kemp has reluctantly declared he will vote for Trump (Raffensperger does not answer the question about his voting intentions), even as Trump comes to Georgia and sharply attacks these two leaders of the state’s Republican Party. The next 75 days – and perhaps beyond, if the worst happens and there is another attempted coup by Team Trump at the polls – are going to be unbearable for these staunchly anti-Trump Republicans.

But you know who’s feeling pretty good now? Geoff Duncan, who not only followed his heart in 2020 but also his head in 2024. He followed the logic of his previous position not by dodging reporters and making excuses but by supporting Kamala Harris. And while Kemp and Raffensperger dodged the RNC, Duncan will speak at the DNC tonight. If Trump loses and the GOP goes in a different direction, maybe he can return to his old party with his head held high.