Geoff Duncan, the Long Con, and the Price of Being Fooled

Geoff Duncan was a no-name, back bench member of the Georgia House of Representatives when he decided to run for Lieutenant Governor. Nobody expected much out of the race. His campaign didn’t have the money or the name recognition to stand out… until it did.

A lot of that came from people like me. Dozens of members of the House stepped up to help him make a major comeback in that runoff against David Shafer. Movement conservatives across the state vouched for him. We did it because we believed him. We thought we knew who he was.

We all knew Shafer was a snake. That wasn’t hard to spot. But Geoff? Geoff came across as honest, straightforward, and he talked about conservatism in a way that actually meant something. For those of us who still thought ideas should matter, he gave us hope.

Well, it turns out we were wrong.

Today the AJC reported that Geoff Duncan is “considering” running for Governor… as a Democrat. That’s not a joke. That’s not a leak from an anonymous consultant. That’s from Geoff himself.

So here’s a mea culpa: I was deceived. And I am sorry. I sold you on the lie that is now Geoff Duncan. I told people he was a trustworthy, movement-minded conservative. That he could be counted on. That he was one of us.

I was wrong.

I hope you can forgive me for being fooled so badly.

And I hope you’ll give some grace to the dozens of others across Georgia who are having to eat this same bitter crow. Nobody saw this coming. None of us had any control over what Geoff was always going to do. But we are paying the price anyway.

A little over a year ago, I wrote this piece trying to make sense of his trajectory: Trying to Make Sense of Geoff Duncan.

I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt. I tried to assume there was still some part of the man we once knew buried beneath the TV appearances and talking points. I was still wrong.

This morning, I sent him a message. I meant every word. Here’s what I wrote:

I don’t think you will ever grasp just how embarrassed you have made all of the movement conservatives who vouched for you in their own communities. Their neighbors. Their friends. The people they go to church with.

I know you will likely dismiss this message out of hand because that’s what you have to do to make it make sense in your own mind. But I am going to say it anyway out of loyalty to the guy I thought I knew.

You fooled me. You fooled a lot of people. I feel embarrassed for being deceived by you. Everyone who vouched for you now has a price to pay for doing so. And that cost is their own credibility.

This is not a baseball game or a round of golf. Stop treating the world like it’s a game you have to win. All you’re doing is making all of us losers.