 May 20, 2021 | by Chris Cillizza, Lauren Dezenski and Sonnet Swire The most important downballot race of 2022  Most secretaries of state toil in near-total obscurity.
Brad Raffensperger is not most secretaries of state. He is the SoS in Georgia, and the man that former President Donald Trump has designated as enemy #1 (or #2 behind Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp) from the 2020 election.
Trump spent the weeks (and months) after his loss in Georgia insisting that he had won the state and urging Raffensperger and Kemp to overturn the results.
Neither did so. And both are running for new terms next November. While the Kemp race will be one of the most high profile in the country, there's plenty of reasons why Raffensperger's bid for reelection matters a whole lot too.
First, Trump has made purging Raffensperger a major priority come 2022. Shortly after Rep. Jody Hice, a Trump ally, announced he would primary Raffensperger, the former President offered the congressman his full endorsement.
"Unlike the current Georgia Secretary of State, Jody leads out front with integrity," Trump said, adding: "Jody will stop the Fraud and get honesty into our Elections!"
Which brings me to the 2nd reason this race matters so much: The 2024 presidential election.
Remember that President Joe Biden beat Trump by just 12,000 votes (out of almost 5 million cast) in Georgia in 2020. The narrowness of that margin ensures that Georgia will, again, be one of the most targeted states by both national campaigns.
That's very important given the efforts by the GOP legislature to build more hurdles to voting in legislation passed earlier this year.
The Point: Downballot races usually get ignored because people think they don't matter. This race matters. Bigly.
-- Chris QUOTE OF THE DAY "If it's not dead, it's been slow walked and is short of breath." -- GOP Sen. Richard Shelby on the January 6 commission proposal's fate in the Senate. A CASH INFUSION ON THE RIGHT 💰 The intersection of politics, money and social media just got more complicated – and influential – ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.
Right-leaning YouTube alternative, Rumble, said this week it is receiving an investment from a group of conservative venture capitalists including PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel and "Hillbilly Elegy" author J.D. Vance. The announcement came on the heels of Vance forming an exploratory committee to run for retiring Ohio Sen. Rob Portman's seat next year.
The Wall Street Journal reports the estimated $500 million investment is being led by Narya Capital, an Ohio-based venture capital fund co-founded by Vance and Thiel. Other investors include Colt Ventures, the office of Texas investor and former Trump adviser Darren Blanton.
Rumble is one of the new platforms that have appealed to the Right as many conservatives see mainstream social media speech guidelines as too restrictive.
The proof is in users. Popular Rumble users include right-wing internet personalities with established histories of spreading disinformation, such as Donald Trump Jr., former Trump strategist Steve Bannon, pundit Dan Bongino and writer Dinesh D'Souza.
-- Sonnet
THURSDAY'S TOP TWEETS  1. Kevin McCarthy is going to regret this 2. Also, McCarthy meet math. Math, McCarthy. 3. We are at the lowest Covid-19 daily death rate in more than a year 4. The MyPillow guy just cracked this case wide open 5. Pope swag 6. "Space Jeopardy" 7. LeBron, still being the best 8. John Daly, and this guy
CHRIS' GOOD READS  In the United States, the medical story of Covid-19 is winding down. But as this piece in The Atlantic makes clear, the mental health aspect of the pandemic is only just beginning.
Why Republicans really should win back the House in 2022, via Kyle Kondik. And a good CNN read on both parties preparing for the future after Nancy Pelosi.
I didn't know what FaceTune-ing was before I read this HuffPost story. And, it is terrifying.
Soccer players have been kneeling to protest racial injustice for the last year. The New York Times asks whether anything has changed.
And now this palate cleanser: A 19-year(!) timeline of Bennifer via Vulture.
MUSICAL INTERLUDE Peter Gabriel's iconic album "So" came out 35 years ago. The band Lowland Hum commemorates that release with its own reimagining of the album called "So Low." (Their version of "Sledgehammer" is A+.) YOUTUBE  Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican, has made it her mission to get a reaction out of her colleague New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat. Will MTG's repeated confrontations cause further hostility in the climate on Capitol Hill?
In this latest episode of The Point, Chris explains how Greene's incessant attacks have brought into question her own mental stability and have even spurred requests for heightened security.
Stick with The Point on YouTube and subscribe!  ONE BIG MASKLESS EVENT  Thursday's Covid-19 Hate Crimes bill signing marked the first time a large group of lawmakers and officials publicly gathered inside the White House unmasked since the start of the Biden administration. It meant no masks, no social distancing and a lot of mingling. You are receiving this message because you subscribed to CNN's The Point with Chris Cillizza newsletter. Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up now to get The Point in your inbox.
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