Jon Ossoff was left debating an empty podium on Sunday after Sen. David Perdue refused to debate him in the Georgia Senate runoff campaign. Sen. Kelly Loeffler and Rev. Raphael Warnock did debate, though, leading to headlines largely focused on Loeffler’s refusal to say whether Donald Trump lost.
Loeffler dodged that question repeatedly. “[I]t's very clear that there were issues in this election,” she said, when asked if it was rigged. Twice she said Trump “has every right to use every legal recourse available.” Meanwhile, after three counts of the vote in Georgia, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is recertifying President-elect Joe Biden as the winner in that state, while the effort to overturn the vote in other states has been dealt court loss after court loss, for a current record of one win and 47 losses.
The Georgia runoff is Jan. 5. Click here to request an absentee ballot. Vote in person as early as Dec. 14. And REGISTER TO VOTE here by Dec. 7—that’s today.
Loeffler also tried to have her cake and eat it too on the subject of Trump’s vicious attacks on Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp. Who are her loyalties with in that fight? Georgia, she answered—“the definition of a dodge,” as CNN’s Maeve Reston described it. “I appreciate the president's support of me, and I appreciate the governor's support of me,” Loeffler also said. Why not just say straight out, “But can’t I have both?”
Loeffler also attempted to portray Warnock as a fiery radical for his sermons as a minister, and once again tried to claim woman-of-the-people status—despite being perhaps the richest person in Congress—by talking about having paid her own way through school. She didn’t mention she did so by mortgaging land she'd inherited from her grandparents. It’s just like waiting tables to pay tuition!
Warnock, for his part, highlighted the need for more COVID-19 relief that benefits regular people, saying “we should at least make sure that whatever we do, workers are at the center of that relief.” And he highlighted COVID-19 as a crisis that has exacerbated ongoing problems with health care in the state.
”I have been moving all across this state, especially going to rural areas. And when I go to these small towns, they’re surprised that I am there. I'm surprised that they’re surprised. They haven’t seen a U.S. senator and they’re wondering why their hospitals are closing, why Kelly Loeffler doesn’t think it's a good idea to make sure that they have health care in the middle of the pandemic,” Warnock said. He added, “Nine of our hospitals have closed and they’re wondering who in Washington is looking out for them.”
Not Kelly Loeffler. Not David Perdue.