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Nathan Deal looms large over race to replace him as Georgia’s governor

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal held a press conference Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2018, in Atlanta, to address the jet fuel tax cut issue after the Senate Rules Committee stripped the Delta tax cut from legislation. Gov. Deal and legislative leaders had hoped they could make a deal Wednesday on the Delta fuel tax legislation - which also includes a state income tax rate cut. (Bob Andres/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)
Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal held a press conference Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2018, in Atlanta, to address the jet fuel tax cut issue after the Senate Rules Committee stripped the Delta tax cut from legislation. Gov. Deal and legislative leaders had hoped they could make a deal Wednesday on the Delta fuel tax legislation - which also includes a state income tax rate cut. (Bob Andres/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP) Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal held a press conference Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2018, in Atlanta, to address the jet fuel tax cut issue after the Senate Rules Committee stripped the Delta tax cut from legislation. Gov. Deal and legislative leaders had hoped they could make a deal Wednesday on the Delta fuel tax legislation - which also includes a state income tax rate cut. (Bob Andres/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

By Greg Bluestein/New York Time News Service 8 min read

ATLANTA – The most liked figure in Georgia politics right now is not Donald Trump, Mike Pence, David Perdue or Barack Obama. It’s Gov. Nathan Deal. And his popularity is shaping the crowded race to succeed him.

Not so long ago, Deal was a pariah to some conservatives for his controversial vetoes and loathed by Democrats for refusing to expand Medicaid, enacting crackdowns on illegal immigration and a string of ethics-related issues.

But as the two-term governor enters the final stretch of his political career, even the Democratic candidates are tying themselves to his policies. And Republicans who once bitterly clashed with Deal now talk of him in glowing terms.

Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, the GOP front-runner in the May 22 primary, invokes his legacy so regularly he might as well bring a cardboard cutout of Deal to campaign stops. Secretary of State Brian Kemp has pledged to build on his economic policy and adapted Deal’s “No. 1 state in the nation for business” mantra.

And business executive Clay Tippins, running as a GOP outsider, talks of Deal in almost biblical terms, saying he’s brought “seven years of plenty” before warning that his successor better be prepared for seven years of famine.