Donald Trump and President-elect Joe Biden are both holding rallies in Georgia on the eve of the state’s two Senate runoff elections, with control of the Senate on the line. Trump will doubtless tout his rally’s larger attendance, ignoring that it’s a result of ignoring public health precautions and packing people in to yet another potential superspreader event as coronavirus hammers the nation.
But Trump has Republicans very nervous ahead of the rally given his attacks on top Georgia Republicans, including Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, and his interest in telling voters that Georgia’s elections are rigged, potentially suppressing his own party's turnout. After all, if Republican Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler win on Tuesday, then Trump is the only Republican to lose at the top of the ticket in the state in 2020 and early 2021.
Trump’s attacks on Kemp have taken the governor off the campaign trail in the closing weeks of the runoff campaign, but other high(ish)-profile Republicans have flooded the state to do events for Perdue and Loeffler. That includes energy secretary, former Texas governor, and former Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry for Perdue and Sens. Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham for Loeffler. Another Loeffler surrogate was particularly interesting: South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, vigorously working on her presidential chances by campaigning far from home in the middle of a surging pandemic.
These races are projected to be extremely tight, and the big question now, the thing that could make a last-minute change as Election Day arrives, is whether Trump focuses his rally truly on increasing turnout for Loeffler and Perdue, or whether he indulges his grievances and undercuts the idea that voting matters or is worth doing. With control of the Senate on the line, can Trump stay on message? Or does he even care, since in his heart he knows he won’t be the president dealing with this Senate?
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