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Democratic Senate candidate Jon Ossoff criticized his Republican opponent, Senator David Perdue, for skipping the first of two second-round debates on Sunday, doubling down on allegations of financial corruption against the incumbent.
While the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission have not charged Perdue with any crime for buying and selling public health-related stocks amid the coronavirus pandemic, Ossoff has used the senator’s personal financial portfolio in his against in the electoral campaign.
“David Perdue has gotten rich in the position. And instead of taking the CDC’s expertise and public health guidance and getting that out to the people and implementing the policy, I was buying stocks and manufacturers of vaccines and medical equipment, ”Ossoff said Sunday, in front of an empty podium. representing the absent. Mr. Perdue.
“He is not here because he is afraid of incriminating himself in this debate,” Ossoff said.
Control of both Georgia Senate seats will be decided before the January 5 runoff, after no candidate in either race exceeded the 50% threshold in the November general election.
Ossoff and Democrat Raphael Warnock must defeat Perdue and Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler, respectively, for Democrats to claim a majority in the Senate.
Absentee voting has already started in the Peach state and early voting begins Dec. 14, a point Ossoff made more than a dozen times in the 27 minutes he spent answering questions from the moderators on Sunday.
Perdue’s absence from the debate stage allowed his Democratic opponent to attack his record as a senator without any significant setback.
“I am sorry that someone who is supposed to be a public servant did not join us. I’m really sorry that we didn’t have a chance to discuss the issues, because people deserve it, ”said Ossoff in his closing remarks.
“It shows astonishing arrogance and a sense of entitlement on the part of the senior US Senator from Georgia in believing that he shouldn’t have to debate at a time like this in our history,” said Ossoff.
Ossoff slammed Perdue for opposing the $ 1,200 stimulus checks U.S. taxpayers received early in the pandemic, blaming the Republican senator for the partisan deadlock in Congress that has prevented lawmakers from reaching another deal on more relief. of Covid-19.
When asked if he would support a national shutdown if the pandemic gets out of hand this winter, Ossoff said he would follow their “cues” from CDC public health officials.
He embraced liberal views on climate change and health care, key themes of his campaign.
Perdue only tweeted once from his campaign account during the debate, photos of him at a campaign stop with his brother, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue.
A spokesman for the Perdue campaign told the media there was no need for another debate after Ossoff “repeatedly lied” in his first confrontation in October before the November 3 general election.
Perdue beat Ossoff between 49.7 and 47.9 percent in the general election, but Georgia’s election laws require Senate candidates to obtain a majority to fully win. Otherwise, the two best candidates enter a second round.
In his first major public event since losing the 2020 election last month, Donald Trump flew to Peach State on Saturday to rally Republican voters for Perdue and Loeffler.
The president’s visit came amid concerns from Republican strategists that his unfounded voter fraud complaints are stifling voters’ enthusiasm in the Georgia Senate battles that will determine control of the upper house.
During his speech at Sunday’s rally, Trump repeated his false claim that Georgia won. Three accounts have determined Joe Biden as the victor in the state.
Trump appeared to acknowledge that his days in the White House are numbered and said he would “take it easy” in Florida if he had to leave.
While he was there ostensibly to urge his supporters to come forward for Perdue and Loeffler in January, Trump often snaked in personal complaints about the election result.
When the president concluded his remarks, he said of his political views: “We will never, never give up.”
