Raphael Warnock defeats Herschel Walker in Georgia Senate race
In a highly watched and competitive race for U.S. Senate in Georgia, Democratic incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock defeated Republican retired football player Herschel Walker. The re-election of Warnock means that every incumbent Senator who ran in 2022 was re-elected. Democrats increased their majority in the Senate from 50 to 50, with the Vice President breaking the tie in favor of Democrats to a 51 to 49 Democratic edge. These numbers include two independents who caucus with the Democrats. Democrats picked up an open Senate seat in Pennsylvania, where incumbent Sen. Pat Toomey did not run for re-election in part due to a public feud with former President Donald Trump. With 98.67% of the vote in, Warnock had 1,817,465 votes (51.38% of the vote), and Herschel Walker had 1,719,868 votes (48.62% of the vote). Republicans did generally well in Georgia in statewide races. Still, the power of incumbency combined with a very negative campaign with many personal attacks was too much for Walker to overcome. In the Governor’s race last month, Republican incumbent Brian Kemp had 2,110,328 votes (53.43%) to Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams’ 1,811,471 (45.86%). Warnock, when all the final votes eventually come in, will beat Abrams’s totals by just a few thousand votes; but Walker, however, is trailing Kemp by nearly 400,000 votes. Walker’s underperformance compared to other high-profile Republicans on the statewide ballot in Georgia can be partially attributed to the many allegations levied against Walker. These include questions about his residency (he has a home in Dallas) and allegations that he (a pro-life candidate) paid for a former girlfriend’s abortion. There were additional allegations by a former girlfriend that he abused her, and many of his children claimed he was not a good father. There were also concerns that he lacked the political experience and intellect to serve effectively in the Senate. Democrats also outspent Republicans in Georgia, particularly in the last month of the race. Warnock, the Senior Pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, had his own allegations, including that he tried to run over his ex-wife (he did run over her foot), as well as questions about how a pastor can be pro-abortion, but Warnock ultimately prevailed. This is the second time in two years that Warnock has won a closely contested U.S. Senate race in Georgia. Warnock beat incumbent Sen. Kelly Loeffler in the 2020 Senate race. The race has implications for the 2024 Presidential election. Former President Trump is a close friend of Walker’s. Walker played for him at the failed USFL’s New Jersey Generals in the 1980s and was Trump’s endorsed candidate in the Republican primary. Trump held several rallies in Georgia before the general election for Walker, while former President Barack Obama campaigned for Warnock. President Joe Biden avoided campaigning heavily in Georgia as there were concerns that a heavy Biden presence might get out the vote for Republicans, who otherwise did not enthusiastically embrace Walker. Trump also alienated many Georgia Republicans by endorsing Kemp’s primary opponent. The Alabama Republican Party was heavily involved in the Georgia Senate race, with the Mighty Alabama Strike Force making several trips to Georgia to campaign for Walker. To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Donald Trump endorses challenger against Georgia elections chief
Former President Donald Trump on Monday endorsed a conservative Georgia congressman in his bid to unseat the Republican secretary of state who refused to help overturn the November election results. Rep. Jody Hice, a tea party favorite and Trump acolyte, is the first major challenger to Brad Raffensperger since the secretary of state certified President Joe Biden’s narrow victory in Georgia and disputed Trump’s false allegations of fraud. Trump’s endorsement marks his most direct attempt at retribution against those he blames for his loss and reaffirms his continued influence over the Republican Party. “Jody has been a steadfast fighter for conservative Georgia values and is a staunch ally of the America First agenda,” Trump said in a statement that repeated the unsupported allegations of fraud. “Unlike the current Georgia Secretary of State, Jody leads out front with integrity. I have 100% confidence in Jody to fight for Free, Fair, and Secure Elections in Georgia, in line with our beloved U.S. Constitution.” In a statement, Raffensperger criticized Hice for supporting Trump’s false fraud claims and likened him to former GOP Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, who lost twin Senate runoffs in January after supporting Trump’s bid to subvert the election results. “Few have done more to cynically undermine faith in our election system than Jody Hice,” Raffensperger said. “We saw in January what Georgia voters will do to candidates who use that rhetoric.” Hice didn’t mention Trump in his announcement but has said previously that he expected the former president’s support, and he echoed Trump’s rhetoric about Raffensperger. “What Brad Raffensperger did was create cracks in the integrity of our elections, which I wholeheartedly believe individuals took advantage of in 2020,” Hice said in a statement Monday, without supporting evidence that would refute Georgia’s three statewide counts of nearly 5 million ballots. “Every Georgian, in fact, every American, has the right to be outraged by the actions and, simultaneously, the inaction of our Secretary of State,” Hice added. Trump has long made clear his intentions to target Raffensperger and Gov. Brian Kemp, also a Republican, for their parts in ratifying Biden’s victory. “I’ll be here in a year in a half campaigning against your governor and your crazy secretary of state,” Trump said at a Georgia rally on Jan. 4, the eve of the two U.S. Senate runoffs that Democrats swept to win control of the chamber. Both Kemp and Raffensperger have said they were simply following the state’s election law and fulfilling their required duties. The developments Monday drew immediate plaudits from the right. “The establishment still doesn’t get how popular Trump is with the base, but they will,” said Debbie Dooley, an early tea party organizer and Trump ally who is close to Hice. “We’ve known Raffensperger was dead, and Jody can excite the base and raise money. This is a serious challenge.” No heavyweight primary opponent has emerged yet against Kemp. Some Trump allies are looking to former Rep. Doug Collins as an ideal challenger. Others close to Collins, one of Trump’s most high-profile House defenders during impeachment proceedings, say he is more likely to make another bid for the Senate after his unsuccessful campaign last year in a special election ultimately won by Sen. Raphael Warnock, a Democrat. Collins was Trump’s choice in 2019 for a Senate vacancy, opened by Republican Johnny Isakson’s retirement. But Kemp opted for Loeffler. Collins finished third in a jungle primary behind Warnock and Loeffler last November before Warnock prevailed in the January runoff. Hice has not cut as high a profile since his election in 2014 as Collins did in Washington, but the 60-year-old has been a loyal Trump lieutenant. He was among the many Republican officials in Georgia who relentlessly pushed Trump’s false claims of voter fraud last fall. He endorsed a lawsuit filed by Texas against Georgia and other battleground states seeking to overturn Biden’s victory in the U.S. Supreme Court — a suit the high court rejected — and he objected to the certification of Electoral College votes even after a pro-Trump mob violently stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Trump’s ire has proven vexing for Raffensperger and Kemp. Kemp won Trump’s endorsement in a heated Republican primary for governor in 2018 and has never publicly criticized the president. He even reaffirmed recently that he’d back Trump if he sought the White House again in 2024. Raffensperger has pushed back more directly, arguing forcefully in national media interviews last fall that the election was accurate and fair. He wrote an op-ed saying he felt “thrown under the bus” by a president he’d supported. Weeks before the Capitol insurrection, a Raffensperger aide angrily predicted the president’s rhetoric would lead to violence. Since then, both Kemp and Raffensperger have tried, carefully, to appeal to the Republican base by calling for changes to the state’s election law. Most specifically, the two men support requiring voter identification for absentee voting to replace the current signature-match requirement. But some GOP lawmakers want to go considerably further, rolling back Georgia’s no-excuse absentee voting altogether, contracting weekend early voting options in some counties, and ending automatic voter registration. Raffensperger and Kemp have been more circumspect publicly about their positions on the more sweeping proposals, though the incumbent secretary of state has continued to vouch for the integrity of absentee voting and the success of automatic registration. Hice, despite his criticism of Raffensperger, also avoided any specifics about what changes he’d like to see in Georgia’s election, saying only that he is “encouraged to see the General Assembly taking it upon themselves to address some of the glaring issues in our elections.” Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Joe Biden win confirmed after pro-Donald Trump mob storms US Capitol
Congress confirmed Democrat Joe Biden as the presidential election winner early Thursday after a violent mob loyal to President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol in a stunning attempt to overturn America’s presidential election, undercut the nation’s democracy and keep Trump in the White House. Lawmakers were resolved to complete the Electoral College tally in a display to the country, and the world, of the nation’s enduring commitment to uphold the will of the voters and the peaceful transfer of power. They pushed through the night with tensions high and the nation’s capital on alert. Before dawn Thursday, lawmakers finished their work, confirming Biden won the election. Vice President Mike Pence, presiding over the joint session, announced the tally, 306-232. Trump, who had repeatedly refused to concede the election, said in a statement immediately after the vote that there will be a smooth transition of power on Inauguration Day. “Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20th,” Trump said in a statement posted to Twitter by an aide. The Capitol was under siege Wednesday, as the nation’s elected representatives scrambled to crouch under desks and don gas masks while police futilely tried to barricade the building, one of the most jarring scenes ever to unfold in a seat of American political power. A woman was shot and killed inside the Capitol, and Washington’s mayor instituted an evening curfew in an attempt to contain the violence. The rioters were egged on by Trump, who has spent weeks falsely attacking the integrity of the election and had urged his supporters to descend on Washington to protest Congress’ formal approval of Biden’s victory. Some Republican lawmakers were in the midst of raising objections to the results on his behalf when the proceedings were abruptly halted by the mob. Together, the protests and the GOP election objections amounted to an almost unthinkable challenge to American democracy and exposed the depths of the divisions that have coursed through the country during Trump’s four years in office. Though the efforts to block Biden from being sworn in on Jan. 20 were sure to fail, the support Trump has received for his efforts to overturn the election results have badly strained the nation’s democratic guardrails. Congress reconvened in the evening, with lawmakers decrying the protests that defaced the Capitol and vowing to finish confirming the Electoral College vote for Biden’s election, even if it took all night. Pence reopened the Senate and directly addressed the demonstrators: “You did not win.” Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the “failed insurrection” underscored lawmakers’ duty to finish the count. Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Congress would show the world “what America is made of” with the outcome. The president gave his supporters a boost into action Wednesday morning at a rally outside the White House, where he urged them to march to the Capitol. He spent much of the afternoon in his private dining room off the Oval Office watching scenes of the violence on television. At the urging of his staff, he reluctantly issued a pair of tweets and a taped video telling his supporters it was time to “go home in peace” — yet he still said he backed their cause. Hours later, Twitter for the first time locked Trump’s account, demanded that he remove tweets excusing violence, and threatened “permanent suspension.” A somber President-elect Biden, two weeks away from being inaugurated, said American democracy was “under unprecedented assault, ” a sentiment echoed by many in Congress, including some Republicans. Former President George W. Bush said he watched the events in “disbelief and dismay.” The domed Capitol building has for centuries been the scene of protests and occasional violence. But Wednesday’s events were particularly astounding both because they unfolded at least initially with the implicit blessing of the president and because of the underlying goal of overturning the results of a free and fair presidential election. Tensions were already running high when lawmakers gathered early Wednesday afternoon for the constitutionally mandated counting of the Electoral College results, in which Biden defeated Trump, 306-232. Despite pleas from McConnell, more than 150 GOP lawmakers planned to support objections to some of the results, though lacking evidence of fraud or wrongdoing in the election. Trump spent the lead-up to the proceedings publicly hectoring Pence, who had a largely ceremonial role, to aid the effort to throw out the results. He tweeted, “Do it Mike, this is a time for extreme courage!” But Pence, in a statement shortly before presiding, defied Trump, saying he could not claim “unilateral authority” to reject the electoral votes that make Biden president. In the aftermath of the siege, several Republicans announced they would drop their objections to the election, including Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., who lost her bid for reelection Tuesday. Earlier, protesters had fought past police and breached the building, shouting and waving Trump and American flags as they marched through the halls, many without masks during the COVID-19 crisis. Lawmakers were told to duck under their seats for cover and put on gas masks after tear gas was used in the Capitol Rotunda. Some House lawmakers tweeted they were sheltering in place in their offices. Rep. Scott Peters, D-Calif., told reporters he was in the House chamber when rioters began storming it. Security officers “made us all get down, you could see that they were fending off some sort of assault.” He said they had a piece of furniture up against the door. “And they had guns pulled,” Peters said. Glass panes to a House door were shattered. The woman who was killed was part of a crowd that was breaking down the doors to a barricaded room where armed officers stood on the other side, police said. She was shot in the chest by Capitol Police and taken to a hospital where she was pronounced dead. City police said three other people died from medical emergencies during
Raphael Warnock, Jon Ossoff win in Georgia, handing Dems Senate control
Democrats won both Georgia Senate seats — and with them, the U.S. Senate majority — as final votes were counted Wednesday, serving President Donald Trump a stunning defeat in his turbulent final days in office while dramatically improving the fate of President-elect Joe Biden’s progressive agenda. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, Democratic challengers who represented the diversity of their party’s evolving coalition, defeated Republicans David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler two months after Biden became the first Democratic presidential candidate to carry the state since 1992. Warnock, who served as pastor for the same Atlanta church where civil rights leader the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. preached, becomes the first African American from Georgia elected to the Senate. And Ossoff becomes the state’s first Jewish senator and, at 33 years old, the Senate’s youngest member. This week’s elections were expected to mark the formal finale to the tempestuous 2020 election season, although the Democrats’ resounding success was overshadowed by chaos and violence in Washington, where angry Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol to stop Congress from certifying Biden’s victory. Wednesday’s unprecedented siege drew fierce criticism of Trump’s leadership from within his own party, and combined with the bad day in Georgia, marked one of the darkest days of his divisive presidency. Still, the Democrats’ twin victories in Georgia represented a striking shift in the state’s politics as the swelling number of diverse, college-educated voters flex their power in the heart of the Deep South. They also cemented the transformation of Georgia, once a solidly Republican state, into one of the nation’s premier battlegrounds for the foreseeable future. In an emotional address early Wednesday, Warnock vowed to work for all Georgians whether they voted for him or not, citing his personal experience with the American dream. His mother, he said, used to pick “somebody else’s cotton” as a teenager. “The other day, because this is America, the 82-year-old hands that used to pick somebody else’s cotton picked her youngest son to be a United States senator,” he said. “Tonight, we proved with hope, hard work and the people by our side, anything is possible.” Loeffler, who remains a senator until the results of Tuesday’s election are finalized, returned to Washington on Wednesday morning to join a small group of senators planning to challenge Congress’ vote to certify Biden’s victory. She didn’t get a chance to vocalize her objection before the violent protesters stormed the Capitol. Georgia’s other runoff election pitted Perdue, a 71-year-old former business executive who held his Senate seat until his term expired Sunday, against Ossoff, a former congressional aide and journalist. “This campaign has been about health and jobs and justice for the people of this state — for all the people of this state,” Ossoff said in a speech broadcast on social media Wednesday morning. “Whether you were for me, or against me, I’ll be for you in the U.S. Senate. I will serve all the people of the state.” Trump’s false claims of voter fraud cast a dark shadow over the runoff elections, which were held only because no candidate hit the 50% threshold in the general election. He raised the prospect of voter fraud as votes were being cast and likened the Republicans who run Georgia’s election system to “chickens with their heads cut off” during a Wednesday rally in Washington. Gabriel Sterling, a top official with the Georgia secretary of state’s office and a Republican, said there was “no evidence of any irregularities.” “The biggest thing we’ve seen is from the president’s fertile mind of finding fraud where none exists,” he said. Both contests tested whether the political coalition that fueled Biden’s November victory was an anti-Trump anomaly or part of a new electoral landscape. To win in Tuesday’s elections — and in the future — Democrats needed strong African American support. AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 3,700 voters in Tuesday’s contests, found that Black voters made up roughly 30% of the electorate, and almost all of them — 94% — backed Ossoff and Warnock. The Democrats also relied on the backing of younger voters, people earning less than $50,000 annually, and newcomers to the state. The Republican coalition backing Loeffler and Perdue was the mirror opposite: white, older, wealthier, and longtime Georgia residents. The coalition closely resembles the one that narrowly handed Georgia’s Electoral College votes to Biden in November, making him the first Democratic presidential candidate to win the state in almost three decades. Trump’s claims about voter fraud in the 2020 election, while meritless, resonated with Republican voters in Georgia. About 7 in 10 agreed with his false assertion that Biden was not the legitimately elected president, AP VoteCast found. Election officials across the country, including the Republican governors in Arizona and Georgia, as well as Trump’s former attorney general, William Barr, have confirmed that there was no widespread fraud in the November election. Nearly all the legal challenges from Trump and his allies have been dismissed by judges, including two tossed by the Supreme Court, where three Trump-nominated justices preside. Publicly and privately, some Republicans acknowledged that Trump’s monthslong push to undermine the integrity of the nation’s electoral system may have contributed to the GOP’s losses in Georgia. “It turns out that telling the voters that the election was rigged is not a great way to turn out your voters,” said Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, a Republican and a frequent Trump critic. Even with Trump’s claims, voters in both parties were drawn to the polls because of the high stakes. AP VoteCast found that 6 in 10 Georgia voters say Senate party control was the most important factor in their vote. Turnout exceeded both sides’ expectations. Ultimately, more people cast ballots in the runoffs than voted in Georgia’s 2016 presidential election. Former President Barack Obama, the nation’s first Black president, issued a statement praising the election of Georgia’s first African American senator and his ability to improve divisions in Washington. “Georgia’s first Black senator will make the (Senate)
Dividing party, Republicans poised to challenge Joe Biden win
Republicans mounting an unprecedented challenge to Joe Biden’s election win are setting up a congressional showdown on Wednesday that threatens to divide their party and the country for years to come. With protestors already gathering in Washington to support President Donald Trump, the House and the Senate will convene a joint session to count the electoral votes cast in November’s election. Trump has repeatedly said there was widespread fraud, but his claims have been roundly rejected by Republican and Democratic election officials in state after state and by judges, including at the Supreme Court, further cementing Biden’s victory. Trump sees the joint session of Congress as one of his final attempts to overturn the results, even though there is no credible path for that to happen. Echoing Trump’s baseless claims, some of his Republican allies in Congress plan to formally object to the results, focusing on six battleground states — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. But a growing number of their GOP colleagues, especially in the Senate, said they would not sign on. If an objection has support from both a House member and a senator in writing, then both chambers will vote on it. That could happen three or more times on Wednesday as Republican Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri, Ted Cruz of Texas, and Kelly Loeffler of Georgia, along with at least ten other GOP senators, have indicated they will support at least some of the House challenges. It is unclear just what the Republican senators will do, but the process could drag into the night as the two chambers will have to consider each objection individually. There could be more than 100 Republicans in the House willing to object. The challenge to the presidential election is on a scale unseen since the aftermath of the Civil War, though the typically routine process of confirming Electoral College votes has been hit with brief objections before. In 2017, several House Democrats challenged Trump’s win, but Biden, who presided at the time as the vice president, swiftly dismissed them to assert Trump’s victory. In 2005, a challenge by a Democratic House member and a Democratic senator to George W. Bush’s victory in Ohio was quickly dismissed by both chambers. The effort this week is expected to be much broader but is all but certain to fail. Biden is set to be inaugurated Jan. 20. Republicans had not yet settled on a full strategy the night before the joint session. A late-night meeting on Monday convened by Cruz reached few conclusions, according to two Republicans familiar with the situation and granted anonymity to discuss it. Cruz will object to electoral results from Arizona, another Republican said — likely to be the first objection considered, in a state Biden won. Hawley has said he will object to the Pennsylvania results, and Loeffler may object to Georgia, where she was vying to keep her seat in a runoff election on Tuesday. With mounting desperation, Trump declared at a campaign rally for Loeffler and David Perdue in Georgia Monday that he would “fight like hell” to hold on to the presidency and he appealed to Republican lawmakers to reverse his election loss. Perdue is seeking another six years in the Senate, but his term expired Sunday. The days ahead will be defining for his presidency. Trump is whipping up crowds and people are gathering in Washington, where security is on alert. Lawmakers are being told to arrive early at the Capitol and some are considering sleeping overnight in their offices to ensure they can safely access the building amid the protests. Vice President Mike Pence will be closely watched as he presides over the session. He is under growing pressure from Trump and others to tip the results in Trump’s favor. But Pence has a ceremonial role that does not give him the power to affect the outcome. “I promise you this: On Wednesday, we’ll have our day in Congress,” Pence said while himself campaigning in Georgia ahead of Tuesday’s runoff elections that will determine control of the Senate. But he did not detail what that meant. The high-stakes decisions on whether to ally with Trump are splitting the Republican Party. A range of Republican officials — including Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland; Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the third-ranking House GOP leader; and former House Speaker Paul Ryan — have criticized the GOP efforts to overturn the election. And more than a dozen Republican senators have said they will not support the effort. “The 2020 election is over,” said a statement Sunday from a bipartisan group of 10 senators, including Republicans Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, and Mitt Romney of Utah. Several others have said they, too, will not back objections, including Republican Sens. John Thune of South Dakota, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate who said last month he thought any challenges would go down “like a shot dog.” In a statement Tuesday, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott said that as he reads the Constitution, “there is no constitutionally viable means for the Congress to overturn an election wherein the states have certified and sent their electors.” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has tried to prevent his party from engaging in the battle, which could help define the GOP in the post-Trump era and create lingering resentments among Republican voters. Both Hawley and Cruz are potential 2024 presidential contenders, vying for Trump’s base of supporters. Some other potential candidates, including Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, have chosen not to challenge the results. Cruz’s coalition of 13 senators has said it will vote to reject the Electoral College tallies unless Congress launches a commission to immediately conduct an audit of the election results. Congress is unlikely to agree to that. Facing the criticism from many in his own party, Cruz has attempted to put a finer point on his challenge. The commission remains his focus, he has said, not to undo the election
Mike Pence, Joe Biden warn of high stakes of Georgia Senate runoffs
President-elect Joe Biden on Monday told Georgia Democrats they had the power to “chart the course” for a generation and Vice President Mike Pence urged Republicans to vote for “the last line of defense” in Washington in a series of final pleas ahead of runoff elections that will determine control of the U.S. Senate. The men spoke hours before President Donald Trump was due to make his case to voters at a nighttime rally in north Georgia, where Republicans were banking on strong voter turnout on Tuesday to reelect Sen. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue and hold control of the chamber. Biden campaigned with Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock in Atlanta, hoping he could recreate the coalition that secured him a narrow victory in the presidential race in November. “Folks, this is it. This is it. It’s a new year, and tomorrow can be a new day for Atlanta, for Georgia, and for America,” Biden said at a drive-in rally. “Unlike any time in my career, one state — one state — can chart the course, not just for the four years but for the next generation.” The stakes have drawn hundreds of millions of dollars in campaign spending to a once solidly Republican state that now finds itself as the nation’s premier battleground. Biden won Georgia’s 16 electoral votes by about 12,000 votes out of 5 million cast in November, though Trump continues pushing false assertions of widespread fraud that even his now-former attorney general and Georgia’s Republican secretary of state — along with a litany of state and federal judges — have said did not happen. The president’s trip Monday comes a day after disclosure of a remarkable telephone call he made to the Georgia secretary of state over the weekend. Trump pressured Republican Brad Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to overturn Georgia’s election results ahead of Wednesday’s joint session of Congress that will certify Biden’s Electoral College victory. The call highlighted how Trump has used the Georgia campaign to make clear his continued hold on Republican politics. Angry after the Raffensperger call, Trump floated the idea of pulling out of the rally but was persuaded to go ahead with it so he will have a chance to reiterate his claims of election fraud. Republicans are wary as to whether Trump will focus only on himself and fail to promote the two GOP candidates. Biden on Monday took aim at Trump’s scheme by declaring that “politicians cannot assert, take or seize power” by undermining legitimate elections. Biden said he needs a Senate majority to pass legislation to combat the coronavirus, and he blasted Perdue and Loeffler as obstructionist Trump loyalists. Loeffler says she will join other Republican lawmakers in objecting to the Electoral College certification of Biden’s victory by Congress on Wednesday. “You have two senators who think they’ve sworn an oath to Donald Trump, not the United States Constitution,” Biden said. Earlier Monday, Pence told a crowd of conservative Christian voters to stop a Democratic takeover in Washington. “We’re going to keep Georgia, and we’re going to save America,” Pence said at Rock Springs Church in Milner. Perdue addressed the church crowd by telephone while quarantining over coronavirus exposure, claiming that “the very future of our republic is on the line” and declaring the duty to vote “a calling from God.” Republicans need just one victory to maintain Senate control and force Biden to contend with a divided government. Democrats need a sweep for a 50-50 split, giving the tiebreaking vote to Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, who will succeed Pence as the Senate’s presiding officer. That would give Democrats a Senate majority to go along with their control of the House and executive branch. Pence, who will preside over Wednesday’s congressional joint session, sidestepped Trump’s denials Monday until a man yelled out that he must “do the right thing on Jan. 6.” Pence promised that “we’ll have our day in Congress,” though he offered no details about what that might mean. Scores of Republicans in Congress have pledged to protest the Electoral College count, but Pence has no legal authority to override Biden’s win. Pence drew chants of “Four more years!” and “Stop the steal!” from the church gathering. Facing those passions from the Republican base, Perdue, whose first Senate term expired Sunday, and Loeffler, an appointed senator trying to win her first election, have run as unabashed Trump Republicans and spent the two-month runoff blitz warning of a “radical” and “dangerous” lurch to the left. Ossoff and Warnock have countered with warnings that a Republican Senate will stymie Biden’s administration, especially on pandemic relief. Warnock pushed back at the deluge of Loeffler television ads casting him as a socialist. “Have you noticed she hasn’t even bothered to make a case, Georgia, for why you should keep her in that seat?” Warnock said, speaking ahead of Biden. “That’s because she has no case to make.” To be sure, a closely divided Senate — with the rules still requiring 60 votes to advance major bills — lessens the prospects of sweeping legislation regardless. But a Democratic Senate would at least assure Biden an easier path for top appointees, including judges, and legitimate consideration of his legislative agenda. A Senate led by Mitch McConnell would almost certainly deny even an up-or-down vote on Biden’s most ambitious plans. More than 3 million Georgians already have voted. Monday’s push is focused on getting voters to the polls Tuesday. Democrats ran up a wide margin among 3.6 million early votes in the fall, but Republicans countered with an Election Day surge, especially in small towns and rural areas. Even with Biden’s statewide win, Perdue led Ossoff by 88,000 votes in November, giving the GOP confidence in the runoff. The runoffs were required because none of the candidates reached a majority vote, as required by Georgia law. Despite Perdue’s initial advantage, early voting figures suggest Democrats have had a stronger turnout heading into Tuesday, and leading Republicans have expressed concerns about
Donald Trump, on tape, presses Ga. official to ‘find’ him votes
President Donald Trump pressured Georgia’s Republican secretary of state to “find” enough votes to overturn Joe Biden’s win in the state’s presidential election, repeatedly citing disproven claims of fraud and raising the prospect of “criminal offense” if officials did not change the vote count, according to a recording of the conversation. The phone call with Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Saturday was the latest step in an unprecedented effort by a sitting president to pressure a state official to reverse the outcome of a free and fair election that he lost. The president, who has refused to accept his loss to Democratic president-elect Biden, repeatedly argued that Raffensperger could change the certified results. “All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have,” Trump said. “Because we won the state.” Georgia counted its votes three times before certifying Biden’s win by a 11,779 margin, Raffensperger noted: “President Trump, we’ve had several lawsuits, and we’ve had to respond in court to the lawsuits and the contentions. We don’t agree that you have won.” Audio snippets of the conversation were first posted online by The Washington Post. The Associated Press obtained the full audio of Trump’s conversation with Georgia officials from a person on the call. The AP has a policy of not amplifying disinformation and unproven allegations. The AP will be posting the full audio as it annotates a transcript with fact check material. Trump’s renewed intervention and the persistent and unfounded claims of fraud come nearly two weeks before he leaves office and two days before twin runoff elections in Georgia that will determine political control of the U.S. Senate. The president used the hour-long conversation to tick through a list of claims about the election in Georgia, including that hundreds of thousands of ballots mysteriously appeared in Fulton County, which includes Atlanta. Officials have said there is no evidence of that happening. The Georgia officials on the call are heard repeatedly pushing back against the president’s assertions, telling him that he’s relying on debunked theories and, in one case, selectively edited video. At another point in the conversation, Trump appeared to threaten Raffensperger and Ryan Germany, the secretary of state’s legal counsel, by suggesting both could be criminally liable if they failed to find that thousands of ballots in Fulton County had been illegally destroyed. There is no evidence to support Trump’s claim. “That’s a criminal offense,” Trump says. “And you can’t let that happen.” Others on the call included Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, and attorneys assisting Trump, including Washington lawyer Cleta Mitchell. Democrats and a few Republicans condemned Trump’s actions, while at least one Democrat urged a criminal investigation. Legal experts said Trump’s behavior raised questions about possible election law violations. Biden senior adviser Bob Bauer called the recording “irrefutable proof” of Trump pressuring and threatening an official in his own party to “rescind a state’s lawful, certified vote count and fabricate another in its place.” “It captures the whole, disgraceful story about Donald Trump’s assault on American democracy,” Bauer said. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat in that chamber, said Trump’s conduct “merits nothing less than a criminal investigation.” Trump confirmed in a tweet Sunday that he had spoken with Raffensperger. The White House referred questions to Trump’s reelection campaign, which did not respond Sunday to an emailed request for comment. Raffensperger’s office did not respond to a request for comment. Trump has repeatedly attacked how Raffensperger conducted Georgia’s elections, claiming without evidence that the state’s 16 electoral votes were wrongly given to Biden. “He has no clue!” Trump tweeted of Raffensperger, saying the state official “was unwilling, or unable” to answer questions. Raffensperger’s Twitter response: “Respectfully, President Trump: What you’re saying is not true. The truth will come out.” Various election officials across the country and Trump’s former attorney general, William Barr, have said there was no widespread fraud in the election. Republican governors in Arizona and Georgia, key battleground states crucial to Biden’s victory, have also vouched for the integrity of their state elections. Nearly all the legal challenges from Trump and his allies have been dismissed by judges, including two tossed by the Supreme Court, which includes three Trump-nominated justices. In Georgia, the ballots were counted three times, including a mandatory hand count and a Trump-requested recount. Still, Trump has publicly disparaged the election, worrying Republicans that may discourage GOP voters from participating in Tuesday’s runoffs pitting Sen. Kelly Loeffler against Democrat Raphael Warnock and Republican David Perdue against Democrat Jon Ossoff. Rebecca Green, who helps direct the election law program at William and Mary Law School, said that while it is appropriate for a candidate to question the outcome of an election, the processes for doing so for the presidential election have run their course. States have certified their votes. Green said Trump had raised “lots of questions” about whether he violated any election laws. Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, said Trump is guilty of “reprehensible and, possibly illegal, conduct.” Trump noted on the call that he intended to repeat his claims about fraud at a Monday night rally in Dalton, a heavily Republican area in north Georgia. “The people of Georgia are angry, the people of the country are angry,” he says on the recording. Biden is also due to campaign in Georgia on Monday, and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris stumped in Garden City, Georgia, on Sunday, slamming Trump for the call. “It was a bald, bald-faced, bold abuse of power by the president of the United States,” she said. Loeffler and Perdue have largely backed Trump in his attempts to overturn election results. But on Sunday, Loeffler said she hadn’t decided whether to join Republican colleagues in challenging the legitimacy of Biden’s victory over Trump when Congress meets Wednesday to affirm Biden’s 306-232 vote win in the Electoral College. Perdue, who was quarantining after being exposed
Missouri senator Josh Hawley to contest Joe Biden’s Electoral College win
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said Wednesday he will raise objections next week when Congress meets to affirm President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the election, forcing House and Senate votes that are likely to delay — but in no way alter — the final certification of Biden’s win. President Donald Trump has, without evidence, claimed there was widespread fraud in the election. He has pushed Republican senators to pursue his unfounded charges even though the Electoral College this month cemented Biden’s 306-232 victory and multiple legal efforts to challenge the results have failed. A group of Republicans in the Democratic-majority House have already said they will object on Trump’s behalf during the Jan. 6 count of electoral votes, and they had needed just a single senator to go along with them to force votes in both chambers. Without giving specifics or evidence, Hawley said he would object because “some states, including notably Pennsylvania” did not follow their own election laws. Lawsuits challenging Biden’s victory in Pennsylvania have been unsuccessful. “At the very least, Congress should investigate allegations of voter fraud and adopt measures to secure the integrity of our elections,” Hawley said in a statement. He also criticized the way Facebook and Twitter handled content related to the election, characterizing it as an effort to help Biden. Biden transition spokeswoman Jen Psaki dismissed Hawley’s move as “antics” that will have no bearing on Biden being sworn in on Jan. 20. “The American people spoke resoundingly in this election and 81 million people have voted for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris,” Psaki said in a call with reporters. She added: “Congress will certify the results of the election as they do every four years.” White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows praised Hawley on Twitter for “unapologetically standing up for election integrity.” When Congress convenes to certify the Electoral College results, any lawmaker can object to a state’s votes on any grounds. But the objection is not taken up unless it is in writing and signed by both a member of the House and a member of the Senate. When there is such a request, then the joint session suspends and the House and Senate go into separate sessions to consider it. For the objection to be sustained, both chambers must agree to it by a simple majority vote. If they disagree, the original electoral votes are counted. The last time such an objection was considered was 2005, when Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Ohio and Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, both Democrats, objected to Ohio’s electoral votes by claiming there were voting irregularities. Both chambers debated the objection and rejected it. It was only the second time such a vote had occurred. As president of the Senate, Vice President Mike Pence will preside over the Jan. 6 session and declare the winner. Asked about Hawley’s announcement, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said, “I have no doubt that on next Wednesday, a week from today, that Joe Biden will be confirmed by the acceptance of the vote of the electoral college as the 46th president of the United States.” Hawley is a first-term senator and potential contender in the 2024 presidential primary, and his decision to join the House objectors is a rebuff to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who had asked his caucus not to participate in a futile quest to overturn the results. Aware that the Democratic-led House would not support such a challenge and that it would put most of his fellow GOP senators in a bind, McConnell told them on a private call Dec. 15 that it would be a “terrible vote” to have to take. That’s according to two people who were not authorized to publicly discuss the private call and spoke on condition of anonymity. While some Republicans have echoed Trump’s unsubstantiated claims, or at least refused to counter them, McConnell and an increasing number of GOP senators have acknowledged that Biden won and will be inaugurated Jan. 20. The Senate’s No. 2 Republican, South Dakota Sen. John Thune, said earlier this month that if the Senate were forced to vote on a challenge “it would go down like a shot dog.” Thune said it didn’t make sense to put senators through a vote when “you know what the ultimate outcome is gonna be.” A range of nonpartisan election officials and Republicans have confirmed there was no fraud in the November contest that would change the results of the election. That includes former Attorney General William Barr, who said he saw no reason to appoint a special counsel to look into the president’s claims about the 2020 election. He then resigned from his post last week. Trump and his allies have filed roughly 50 lawsuits challenging election results, and nearly all have been dismissed or dropped. He’s also lost twice at the Supreme Court. The group of House Republicans have said they plan to challenge the election results from Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Nevada. All are states that Biden carried. Alabama Rep. Mo Brooks, one of the Republicans who is leading the efforts, has raised questions about the way state elections were conducted. Some of the states made changes to ballots and procedures during the pandemic. While the new procedures may have led to confusion in some places, state and federal officials have said there was no credible evidence of widespread fraud. In addition to having to go on the record with a vote, Republicans are worried about negative effects on the two Senate runoff elections in Georgia on Tuesday. GOP Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler face Democratic challengers Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock in a state that flipped in November for Biden. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Raphael Warnock and Kelly Loeffler work to consolidate voters for runoff
When Georgia Republican Kelly Loeffler and Democrat Raphael Warnock advanced to the Jan. 5 U.S. Senate runoff, they faced the immediate challenge of winning over the 2 million voters who chose one of the 18 other candidates in November’s election. Polls show they have largely succeeded, and that could give Loeffler, the incumbent, a small advantage. Republican U.S. Rep. Doug Collins came in third in the November vote that ended with the Republican candidates winning 48,000 more votes than the Democratic candidates. In Georgia’s second runoff election, Republican U.S. Sen David Perdue started with an even wider lead, having won 88,000 more votes in November than Democrat Jon Ossoff. Since he didn’t get a majority, however, Perdue was forced into a runoff. Turnout could be the deciding factor. Through Wednesday, nearly 2.1 million voters had cast ballots, roughly on pace with the Nov. 3 general election. It’s unclear how the Christmas holiday will affect the pace of balloting. In-person early voting runs as late as Dec. 31 in some counties. On Sunday night, President Donald Trump tweeted that he would visit Georgia on Jan. 4, the eve of the runoff, for a rally in support of Perdue and Loeffler. One thing helping line voters up is the decision of the candidates in both races to run as tickets, with joint appearances and advertisements. J. Miles Coleman of the University of Virginia Center for Politics said the joint effort has helped Warnock wrap up Democratic voters. “He and Ossoff have done a better job of running as a ticket,” Coleman said. “I think overall that’s going to benefit Warnock and help him consolidate some of his support.” With the candidates running as tickets, it’s unlikely the parties will split the seats. Two wins would put Democrats in control of the U.S. Senate with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris breaking a 50-50 tie. A split or two GOP wins would keep Republicans in control. Deborah Jackson, a former mayor of the Atlanta suburb of Lithonia, came in fourth in November, the runner-up Democrat behind Warnock. She benefitted from being a Black woman, a known quantity in the Democratic stronghold of DeKalb County and the first Democrat listed on a ballot so long that Warnock had to remind supporters to go all the way down to find his name. “I had tangible and practical experience,” Jackson said. “I think some people were interested in that.” She said some people were offended that leading state and national Democrats tried to clear the field for Warnock, but said she’s still supporting him without reservation. “The Democrats need to be in control of the Senate, or at least there needs to be a balance,” Jackson said. At least one of Jackson’s supporters agrees. Laura Durojaiye of Stonecrest said she’s already voted for Warnock. “I think he’ll get all her votes,” Durojaiye said, saying she thinks Warnock is someone who will learn in the Senate and back her priorities of addressing climate change and societal inequity. Shane Hazel, the Libertarian who won the key sliver of votes that forced Perdue and Ossoff into a runoff, said his voters may sit the runoff out, telling Hazel “they will never vote for anybody out of fear again.” One of the top early voting counties in the state is Rabun — in Georgia’s northeastern corner — where Trump and Perdue both won 78% of the vote. “I’m convinced the Democrats could run Mother Teresa and get 20%,” said Ed Henderson, secretary of the Rabun County Republican Party. As in the other counties in his northeast Georgia congressional district, Collins was the top vote-getter in the Senate special election. “This was Collins country,” Henderson said. Collins, though, has been a strong supporter of Loeffler and Perdue. Although nearly 40% of Rabun’s registered voters have already cast ballots, Henderson said he worries that Trump’s ceaseless attacks on the integrity of Georgia’s presidential election will hurt Republican turnout there, citing the “godlike reverence” residents have for the president, “My biggest problem this election cycle is there is a distrust of the system,” Henderson said, saying a handful of hardcore Republicans have told him they are sitting the election out, saying they believe Trump was cheated, despite little credible evidence of wrongdoing. Henderson also frets that Loeffler has never been to his county, so far from Atlanta that many watch out-of-state television. “It would be greatly helpful if they would come up here in person and tell our voters they would like to get our vote,” Henderson said of the Republican candidates. Democrats have their own trouble. Early voting is lagging in Georgia’s smaller urban areas including Savannah, Augusta, Macon, and Columbus, and Democratic vote totals have been disappointing in rural areas. “The Democrats have really struggled to turn out Black voters in rural parts of the state,” Coleman said. “Are the Democrats going to be able to do well enough in the rural parts of the state?” Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Mitch McConnell warns GOP off Electoral College brawl in Congress
Fending off a messy fight that could damage Republicans ahead of Georgia Senate runoffs, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell warned fellow GOP senators on Tuesday not to join President Donald Trump’s extended assault on the Electoral College results. In public remarks and private warnings, McConnell worked to push ahead to the Biden era and unite a fractured Republican Party ahead of the runoff elections that will determine Senate control. First, the Republican leader heaped praise on Trump’s “endless” accomplishments as he congratulated President-elect Joe Biden during a morning Senate speech. Then he pivoted, privately warning Republican senators away from disputing the Electoral College tally when Congress convenes in a joint session Jan. 6 to confirm the results. That fight would yield a “terrible vote” for Republicans, McConnell told the senators, according to two people granted anonymity to discuss the call, which was first reported by Politico. They would have to choose whether to back Trump or publicly buck him. Republicans are worried about bad effects on the Jan. 5 Georgia runoff election, where two incumbent Republican senators, David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, face Democratic challengers Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock in a state that flipped in November for Biden. McConnell has been a strong supporter of most Trump efforts. But the turn of events six weeks after Election Day showed the Kentucky senator, backed by his leadership team, seeking to normalize relations with the coming Biden presidency while avoiding the spectacle of pitched floor fight that would divide the party as Trump reluctantly leaves office. “I want to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden,” McConnell said as he opened the Senate. “Many of us had hoped the presidential election would yield a different result,” he said. “But our system of government has the processes to determine who will be sworn in on Jan. 20. The Electoral College has spoken.” Biden told reporters that he called to thank McConnell for the remarks and the two had a “good conversation.” As he departed to campaign in Georgia, he said he told McConnell there are “things we can work together on.” The Senate leader’s sprint into action after weeks of silence followed other leading Republicans who spoke up after the Electoral College voted late Monday. They finally said aloud what many Republicans had been signaling privately — that Biden is the winner of the presidential election, and they are essentially abandoning Trump’s election attacks. From there, the floodgates opened. Several GOP senators confirmed they had spoken with Biden, including Trump ally Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Mitt Romney of Utah, the GOP’s 2012 presidential nominee. Some have had meetings with Biden’s nominees for administration posts. In his phone call, Romney expressed admiration for Biden’s willingness to endure the rigors of a presidential campaign and serve in the nation’s highest office, the senator’s office said. The two also discussed the challenging political environment ahead. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said now that McConnell has spoken, “enough is enough.” Trump should “end his term with a modicum of grace and dignity,” Schumer said. For his part, Trump continued to push his baseless claims of “voter fraud” in a new tweet on Tuesday. Some GOP lawmakers have vowed to carry the fight to Jan. 6 when Congress votes to accept or reject the Electoral College results. Others have said Trump’s legal battles should continue toward resolution by Inauguration Day, Jan. 20. House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy declined to comment Tuesday when asked if he was ready to acknowledge Biden as the president-elect. One House Republican, Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama, is planning to challenge the Electoral College results when Congress convenes for the joint session. At that time, any challenge in Congress would need to be raised by at least one member of the House and Senate. It’s unclear if any GOP senator will join in making the case. McConnell and his lieutenants, including Sens. John Thune of South Dakota and Roy Blunt of Missouri, warned the senators off any Electoral College challenge, calling it dead-end since any action would need sign-off by Democrats who have the House majority under Speaker Nancy Pelosi, according to one of the people familiar with Tuesday’s call. The GOP leaders further warned senators that forcing their colleagues into a vote on Electoral College challenges would prove difficult, especially for those facing their own reelections in 2022. No Republican senator spoke up in contradiction. Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, who as chairman of the Homeland Security Committee is convening a hearing Wednesday on election fraud, has “no plans” to join with House Republicans and challenge the results, according to spokesman Austin Altenburg. McConnell surprised Washington on Tuesday when he opened the Senate addressing the election. The GOP leader called Biden someone “who has devoted himself to public service for many years.” He also congratulated Kamala Harris, saying “all Americans can take pride that our nation has a female vice president-elect for the very first time.” McConnell prefaced his remarks with sweeping praise of Trump’s four years in office, saying the president delivered on a promise to “shake up Washington.” He cited the president’s nomination and Senate confirmation of three Supreme Court justices, among other accomplishments. With states having affirmed the election results, the Republicans faced a pivotal choice — to acknowledge Biden the president-elect or keep standing silently by as Trump wages a potentially damaging campaign to overturn the election. “At some point, you have to face the music,” Thune, the No. 2 GOP leader, said late Monday. “Once the Electoral College settles the issue today, it’s time for everybody to move on.” Historians and election officials have warned that Trump’s unfounded claims of voter fraud threaten to erode Americans’ faith in the election system. Trump is trying to throw out the ballots of thousands of Americans, particularly those who voted by mail, in dozens of lawsuits that have mostly failed. His legal team is claiming irregularities, even though Attorney General William Barr, who abruptly resigned Monday, has said there is no evidence of widespread fraud that would alter the
Early in-person voting begins in Georgia Senate runoffs
Early in-person voting began Monday in the runoff elections for Georgia’s two U.S. Senate seats, with lines reported to be shorter than in the first days of early voting for the general election last month. More than half of the record 5 million votes in the Nov. 3 general election were cast during its three-week early voting period. Early in-person voting could be even more important in the Jan. 5 runoffs because of the short period for voters to request and return ballots by mail. The two races in which Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff try to oust Republican Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, respectively, will decide which party controls the U.S. Senate. No one expects turnout to be as high as it was for the general election. But Bernard Fraga, an Emory University professor who studies voting, said overall turnout could reach 4 million. President Donald Trump has relentlessly pushed baseless claims of widespread fraud in the general election, in which he lost in the state of Georgia. In an overnight tweet just hours before early voting began, he continued his attack on Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, pushing him to take action or risk harming the chances for Perdue and Loeffler. “What a fool Governor @BrianKempGA of Georgia is,” the president tweeted. “Could have been so easy, but now we have to do it the hard way. Demand this clown call a Special Session and open up signature verification, NOW. Otherwise, could be a bad day for two GREAT Senators on January 5th.” In contrast to the first day of early voting in October, when more than 125,000 people cast ballots and some people lined up for hours, few long lines were reported Monday. One question was how many mail-in ballots will be cast in the election. By Friday, 1.2 million mail-in ballots had been requested and 200,000 returned. In the general election, Democrat Joe Biden won 65% of the 1.3 million absentee ballots that were returned in Georgia, a record fueled by the coronavirus pandemic. Fraga said it’s possible that mailed ballots will be even more favorable for Democrats in the runoff because of attacks on the integrity of mail-in voting by Trump and many Georgia Republicans. That means early in-person voting, which Trump narrowly won in November, could be even more important for Republicans. Both parties may also drive voters toward the early polls with the Christmas and New Year’s holidays looming. Republican attacks on mail-in voting also worry some Democrats. Meghan Shannon, 36, voted in person for Ossoff and Warnock on Monday at State Farm Arena in downtown Atlanta, partly driven by fears that absentee ballots will be overly scrutinized. “I think the absentee ballots are going to be questioned when they count the votes,” the architect said. “I wanted to be here in person so my vote is counted and it’s uncontested.” Melissa McJunkin, 40, voted in Rome, a solidly Republican area in northwest Georgia, and cast her ballot for Perdue and Loeffler, saying they “will help make decisions based on what I think is the right choice.” She’d heard allegations of voter fraud in the general election and was a bit worried about the integrity of the runoff vote. “I’ve never had a problem before now trusting it, but now I feel like there may be something going on that I don’t trust,” she said. Towanda Jones voted in downtown Atlanta for Ossoff and Warnock and dismissed the fraud allegations, which have been repeatedly denied by election officials. “The system is working as it should, and I think our current president is just a sore loser,” she said. The 54-year-old Black hairstylist said police reform was her main priority. “I have two grown sons,” Jones said. “The amount of Black lives that have been lost due to police brutality upset me.” Deborah Harp Gibbs of Lilburn said she voted for Perdue and Loeffler “to keep America great.” Gibbs said it’s important for people to acknowledge the United States as a Christian nation. “I want prayer in school and ‘God Bless America’ and apple pie,” Gibbs said, adding that she thinks the Republicans could keep things on “the right track.” Tony Christy, 62, said he was concerned about the balance of power in Washington as he voted in Kennesaw, a conservative-leaning city just northwest of Atlanta, for the two Republicans. If the Democrats win, there will be 50 senators from each party and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris would be the tie-breaking vote in the chamber. That would give too much power to the Democrats, Christy said, because “then not only will they have the presidency, but they’ll have the House and the Senate, which is not a good balance to have.” But Araya Araya of Lilburn said he voted for Warnock in part to give Biden a chance to get things done. “I didn’t want the Senate to be majority Republican where everything President-elect Biden is preparing to do is going to get blocked,” Araya said. Each of Georgia’s 159 counties must offer at least one early voting location during business hours, with many in metro Atlanta offering multiple sites, extended hours and weekend voting. Early voting will continue through Dec. 31 in some places. Preparation for early voting saw squabbles over cuts to the number of early polling places. The Center for New Data, a nonprofit group, counted 42 early polling sites statewide scheduled to close for the runoff. In some cases, polling places were relocated. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
GOP voters ready for Georgia runoffs despite Donald Trump’s claims
Many Republican voters in Georgia are angry. They’re convinced that widespread voter fraud — claims that are baseless — cost President Donald Trump the election to Democrat Joe Biden. But will those concerns put them on the sidelines for runoff elections Jan. 5 that will determine party control of the U.S. Senate? No way, said Trump supporter Lori Davis. “Everyone that I’m around, we’re ready to vote now,” said the 57-year-old businesswoman, as she awaited the arrival of Vice President Mike Pence at a rally for GOP Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler in Augusta on Thursday. Trump has relentlessly promoted false claims that the election was rigged against him and he has savaged Republican elected officials he perceives as standing in the way of his quest to subvert the results. Some Trump allies have gone as far as calling for voters to skip the Georgia runoffs altogether — alarming words for the GOP campaigns banking on a strong turnout. But interviews with voters and party activists in the state suggest there’s little sign that Trump’s voters are planning to stay home in protest. Most Republican voters interviewed said they were prepared to put their skepticism aside to vote for Perdue and Loeffler in their races against Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, respectively. “There are people who are discouraged about (Trump) losing Georgia or being behind. But I haven’t talked to people who’ve said, ‘Oh, the heck with this, it’s all rigged anyway,’” said Tim Phillips, president of the conservative group Americans for Prosperity, which has done canvassing of GOP-leaning voters. Phillips was among those who worried that the distrust could affect Republican enthusiasm. But he said his group’s weeks in the field, combined with a recent visit from Trump, have eased his worries. Trump’s Dec. 5 campaign stop in Valdosta, Georgia, was his first since he lost the state to Biden by about 11,700 votes — a result that was confirmed by two recounts, including a hand tally of all ballots. But those recounts haven’t stopped the president from blasting Republican Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. Kemp has rebuffed Trump’s call for a special session of the legislature to subvert the election results, while Raffensperger has repeatedly said there is no evidence of systemic fraud or irregularities in the November election. Trump’s allies have continued to push false claims of fraud. Sidney Powell, who was removed from Trump’s legal team last month, has teamed up with Georgia attorney Lin Wood, who is known for his representation of several high-profile clients, particularly in defamation cases. The lawyers have repeatedly encouraged Georgia Republicans not to vote in the runoff election and questioned whether Perdue and Loeffler have sufficiently backed Trump’s efforts. “Why would you go back and vote in another rigged election?” Wood said during a recent rally in a suburb north of Atlanta. Trump has asked his supporters to get out and vote. The “seats are the last line of defense to save America and protect all that we’ve accomplished,” he said at the recent Georgia event. During the rally, Trump weaved back and forth between pressing his own grievances about the election and encouraging the crowd to turn out for Perdue and Loeffler. “You know a lot of people, friends of mine, say ‘Let’s not vote. We’re not going to vote because we’re angry about the presidential election,’” Trump told the crowd. “But if you do that, the radical left wins,” he said. Phillips said he believes that message is getting through to the conservative base much more so than any isolated calls for boycotts or even the president’s broadsides against Kemp and Raffensperger. “These aren’t people taking their cues from CNN or conventional political media. They listen to the president directly. And they’re open to his message and our message of not letting (Democratic Senate leader) Chuck Schumer finish the job,” Phillips said. Republicans are depending on voters such as Terry McCreary, a 65-year-old retiree in Cherokee County. McCreary calls himself a “conservative independent,” but he’s voted almost exclusively for Republicans since casting presidential ballots for Democrat Bill Clinton in the 1990s. McCreary says he finds it “hard to believe” Biden won the election fair and square. McCreary cites several misleading and disproven theories that Trump and his allies have pushed in recent weeks. “It just doesn’t feel right,” he said from his home in the Atlanta suburbs. But none of that, McCreary said, will keep him from voting in the runoffs. “I’m concerned about the election on Jan. 5” being legitimate, he said. “But I always vote. Every time.” Perdue and Loeffler have tried to placate Trump and his supporters by backing a lawsuit from Texas that sought to overturn Biden’s win but was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday, and by calling for Raffensperger to resign, citing unspecified “mismanagement” in the election. Nonetheless, they’ve faced pushback from hardcore Trump supporters. As the pair strained to speak at Trump’s rally in Valdosta, cries of “Fight for Trump” filled the crowd, largely drowning out the senators. Jeanne Seaver, a Republican activist in Georgia who worked on Trump’s 2016 campaign, said she believes that Republican voters will still come out to support Perdue and Loeffler despite the anger on the ground. “I think if Donald Trump says get out and vote for Kelly and David, then the Trump folks are loyal to Donald Trump and will get out and vote,” Seaver said. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
