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Donald Trump’s unsubstantiated claims about voter fraud dominated a tense debate in Georgia ahead of a crucial second round in the Senate, as Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler three times refused to acknowledge the result of the November vote, which Trump lost by a convincing electoral college margin and by more than 7 million votes.
The future of the US Senate hinges on the outcome of the January 5 election in Georgia, with both seats up for grabs to determine whether Republicans or Democrats will have an effective majority in the upper house. The outcome will play an important role in President-elect Joe Biden’s ability to legislate and govern during his tenure as the next president of the United States.
Loeffler faces Democrat Raphael Warnock in the first race, while incumbent Republican David Perdue faces Democrat Jon Ossoff in the second.
On Sunday, Ossoff debated alone next to an empty podium when Perdue refused to participate in the televised debate amid allegations of corruption linked to his trading on the stock market during the pandemic.
Ossoff argued that Perdue avoided the debate in Atlanta because he did not want to “incriminate himself” for his financial dealings, which include suspiciously scheduled investments in companies that would benefit from the pandemic.
“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.
Both Perdue and Loeffler appeared at a rally hosted by Donald Trump on Saturday night in southern Georgia, apparently set up for the president to show his support for both Senate candidates, but in which the outgoing president made repeated unsubstantiated claims of electoral fraud and criticism of the Republicans. state officials who certified a victory for Biden in Georgia.
Although Loeffler and Perdue have not articulated the same unfounded conspiracy theories that Trump, like most of his Republican colleagues, have failed to recognize Biden as president-elect.
On Sunday, Loeffler was asked numerous times if he believed Trump’s fictitious allegations of voter fraud and declined to answer directly each time.
She argued that Trump, who has so far lost all significant decisions in his numerous legal attempts to subvert the results through the courts, had “every right to all legal remedies” in the election.
Trump lost the state of Georgia, a longtime Republican stronghold, by more than 12,000 votes in a result that was certified by the Republican secretary of state more than two weeks ago.
Loeffler tried to deviate from the issue, arguing that Trump had also encouraged his supporters Saturday to vote for her in January.
“The president also made it clear that Georgians must vote for David Perdue and me on the stakes,” he said.
Both Republican candidates face a rhetorical tightrope. On the one hand, they refuse to acknowledge that Biden has won, but on the other, they frame the Georgia Senate race as crucial to avoiding Democratic control of the government, a tacit recognition that Trump has lost the White House.
Warnock, pastor of the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, criticized Loeffler for his position and used one of his own questions in the debate to ask, “Yes or no, Senator Loeffler: Did Donald Trump lose the presidential election?”
The senator dodged the answer again.
Loeffler, who is a billionaire, also faces allegations of shady stock market operations linked to the pandemic, calling Warnock, a center-democrat, a “radical liberal” and at one point asked the pastor to resign. to Marxism in public. .
Warnock did not participate and concluded the debate by stating: “It is dark at the moment. But the morning is on the way. It’s our job, Georgia, to put on our shoes and prepare because there are those who are involved in the politics of the division. They have no vision and that is why they get involved in the division.
Early voting in Georgia’s runoff begins Dec. 14 and polls indicate an extremely tight election in both races.
