The tremors caused by former U.S. Sen. David Perdue are still being felt across the political landscape of Georgia this week.

Perdue announced he will challenge incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp in the Republican primary next year. It means Georgia will once again be under a bright spotlight in 2022, similar to a year ago.

The 2020 election in Georgia saw Democrats break the stranglehold by Republicans as two Republicans senators were defeated (including Perdue). The state also voted for Joe Biden in the presidential election.

In any circumstance, Perdue would be a formidable foe for the sitting governor, something which typically doesn’t happen. Statewide elected officials do have primary challenges launched against them from time to time, but this is as legit as an opponent as one can have.

Perdue has name recognition, the financial resources for the primary challenge and perhaps, most importantly, he has the backing of former President Donald Trump.

Right or wrong, Trump still holds Kemp partly responsible for how the vote unfolded in Georgia in 2020. Trump believes he won the state but blames the incumbent governor for not doing more to give him the victory.

An equal amount of blame by Trump is centered on current Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who also has primary opposition. Trump has endorsed Jody Hice in that Republican primary. Hice, in fact, gave up his comfortable seat in Congress which has caused a flood of candidates to seek his position in Washington, D.C.

Perdue, meanwhile, clearly was someone Trump wanted in the GOP primary to challenge Kemp. That has now occurred.

The odds of Kemp being governor past Dec. 31, 2022 are looking less likely. Even if he survives his own primary, he would then have Democrat Stacey Abrams to contend with. Kemp narrowly defeated Abrams in the 2018 election and political followers have looked forward to the rematch.

What we didn’t realize in 2018 was what would happen in 2020. Trump is no longer president. Perdue is no longer a US Senator. Kemp is still being blamed by die-hard Trump supporters for his role, whether real or imagined, in Georgia going blue.

A Republican primary poll in governor’s race was released shortly after Perdue made his announcement. It showed Kemp and Perdue deadlocked at 34% with Vernon Jones, also a Trump ally, at 10%. South Georgia educator Kandiss Taylor, who ran in the 2020 US Senate jungle primary, was at 4%.

Perdue’s challenge is certainly not a welcomed thing by all Republicans in Georgia. Many have always had the belief that incumbents should not be challenged in their own primary. Some conservative talk show hosts based in Georgia have said Perdue’s campaign will only damage the Republican party. However, they are not going to prevent him from running and really have no right to do so.

Remember, statewide Republicans would not allow two challengers to President Trump be on the ballot in 2020 despite both having been elected to office, including one two-term governor.

Kemp has already bragged about how he has handled the COVID-19 crisis but what he fails to mention is that many businesses had to close during the health crisis because the state ordered them closed. Republicans have always touted being “pro-business” but closing the doors of businesses and putting people out of work is the exact opposite.

The next several months are likely going to be one of the nastiest primary elections our state has seen. It will also be an indicator of how the 2022 presidential election might go in our state. Be prepared for lots of commercials, some paid for by the candidates and some not.

If Perdue wins the GOP primary, it shows how much strength Trump still has. If Abrams is elected governor (regardless of her Republican opponent) it would show Democrats have truly flipped the state.

Stay tuned. It’s going to be fascinating to watch it all unfold. One has to wonder if Kemp will be breaking out his shotgun ads again and playing up his ability to make people across the country laugh at our state. He better take this challenge serious or he will be a one-term governor fully free to ponder just how it all played out.

Chris Bridges is a Covington News correspondent. He welcomes feedback about this column at pchrisbridges@gmail.com.