Former Georgia Lt. Gov. Jeff Duncan says the attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia was an organized, unlawful effort driven by former President Donald Trump and his allies and brought the country “dangerously close” to losing its democratic foundation.
Duncan made the remarks during a recent interview on MS NOW, ahead of his scheduled testimony marking five years since the January 6 Capitol insurrection. House Democrats reconvened the select committee that investigated the attack to examine what they describe as ongoing threats to free and fair elections.
Duncan, a Republican at the time, broke publicly with Trump after the 2020 election and officially switched parties last year. He is now running for governor of Georgia as a Democrat.
‘An organized, unlawful attempt’
Duncan said Georgia officials were placed under intense pressure by Trump and his allies to reverse the state’s certified election results.
“We were on the front lines of Donald Trump’s attempts to not validate an election,” Duncan said. “It was an organized, unlawful attempt through multiple acts to try to upend democracy.”
He said the pressure included demands to call a special legislative session, not to address legitimate concerns, but to create confusion and doubt.
“Their only game plan was to create chaos,” Duncan said. “To plant enough seeds of doubt on social media, interviews, and phone calls.”
Duncan referenced recently released audio reports describing Trump’s efforts to pressure Georgia legislative leaders, noting that similar tactics were used across state government. He said Trump has even publicly praised one of Duncan’s potential opponents in the governor’s race, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, for supporting efforts to overturn the election.
“This was a very granular attempt by Donald Trump and his supporters to upend democracy in Georgia,” Duncan said.
Personal cost of defying Trump
Duncan said the fallout from refusing to support Trump’s false election claims was immediate and personal.
“It’s certainly been difficult for me and my family over the last five years,” he said. “We had armed guards around our house. We had death threats coming in. We had our kids getting picked on at school.
He said neighbors stopped waving at his family, and the hostility has lingered for years. Still, Duncan said he has no regrets.
“I’m guided by our family motto: doing the right thing will never be the wrong thing,” he said. “Standing up to Donald Trump was the right thing to do.”
That conviction, Duncan said, ultimately led him to speak at the Democratic National Convention, campaign for Vice President Kamala Harris, and leave the Republican Party.
“Being a Republican right now only means one thing,” Duncan said. “You have to just bow down to Donald Trump and accept whatever bad idea he has in that moment in time. Whatever attacks against democracy he wants to think of that morning, you’ve got a rubber stamp it, and I’m not willing to do that, and I see millions of other Republicans starting to wake up and see the other side.”
Why January 6 still matters
Duncan said he continues to speak publicly about the post-election period and January 6 because Trump continues to promote false claims that the 2020 election was stolen.
“Donald Trump continues to talk about it in a way that’s trying to whitewash history,” he said. ‘The reality is, it was an egregious attempt to overthrow a legal election and to usurp democracy.”
He warned that democracy nearly failed and would have if even a small number of state officials had chosen political loyalty over the rule of law.
“Most Americans don’t realize how close we came to the edge of breaking democracy. If just a handful of state legislators like myself would have just turned around and said, ‘You know what, actually, I changed my mind. I’ve seen enough proof here. There’s some fraud happening,’ just to make political points with Donald Trump — we would have a totally different landscape. The [US] would be referred to as one of these Third World countries that we’re talking about in other parts of the world that have erroneous elections.”
Running for governor as a Democrat
Now seeking Georgia’s top office, Duncan acknowledged that some Democratic voters may be skeptical of his long Republican past.
“Some people ask, ‘Geoff, have you lost your mind? And the answer is ‘No, I found my heart,'” he said.
Duncan said switching parties allows him to focus on what he sees as Georgians’ most urgent problems.
“I wake up every day as a proud Democrat with a better tool set to serve the needs of Georgians,” he said. “I don’t have to make excuses when I drive by that hospital and see folks scared to go in because they don’t have health insurance. I don’t have to drive by that school any longer and blame the teachers instead of the government systems that support those schools. I don’t have to make excuses. I don’t have to lie for Donald Trump, or be expected to lie for Donald Trump.”
Duncan said his campaign will focus on three issues he believes unite voters across party lines. “The affordability crisis, the health care crisis, and the Donald Trump crisis.”
Referring to Trump’s military raid on Venezuela and threats about overtaking Greenland, Duncan said those actions are not solving the problems of those who can’t afford to buy groceries, pay their rent, or health insurance.
“Donald Trump’s not solving America’s problems,” Duncan said. “He’s just continuing to sow chaos around the world.”
