Pandemic, Election Integrity Top Of Mind As Georgia Senate Runoffs Enter Final Days

“They’re disproportionately young, they are disproportionately people of color and that signals that they understand their newfound power,” said Abrams.

At the end of a busy Wednesday barnstorming across the state in support of Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, Abrams’ final stop was at a barbershop in Clayton County.

Warnock and Ossoff are trying to unseat Republican incumbents Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue. If Democrats win both seats, they’ll achieve a 50-50 split empowering Vice President-elect Kamala Harris to cast a tie-breaking vote.

“Obviously people are struggling out here,” said 29-year-old Pierre Bowles, a Clayton County business owner who spent a few minutes speaking with Abrams. “For people to have to go as long as they have without being able to get any type of stimulus money…education in the community, police reform, there are several things that are on the table and I think all are important this election.”

Virus and Economic Relief

Abrams said weathering the pandemic is top of mind for many in Georgia.

“We know that Perdue and Loeffler have no interest in actually providing the investment necessary to help a county like Clayton where they are lagging behind in access to PPE, where they’re lagging behind in testing,” said Abrams. “We need investment in the county and city governments to ensure they can recover.”

At a campaign rally in Peachtree Corners Thursday morning, Loeffler disagreed with that assessment, saying she’s supported pandemic relief “at every turn.” She voted in favor of the stimulus plan that included a $600 payment for every American.

But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has so far refused to call for another vote after President Trump threw his support behind raising those payments to $2,000.

As for why it took so long for Congress to pass another relief bill, Loeffler blamed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for “playing politics” with the pandemic.

“She’s looking for ‘Blue State’ bailouts,” Loeffler said. “We have to help Georgians most impacted by this, that’s why I supported that relief, and I’m going to keep fighting for Georgians every single day so that we can get past this pandemic.”

Baseless Fraud Claims Continue To Sow Distrust 

As early voting in Georgia wound down, Loeffler continued to urge her supporters to cast their ballot in Tuesday’s Senate runoff elections. At the same time, many Republicans remain suspicious of Georgia’s election process following President Trump’s loss in November.

Jason Dew, who attended Thursday’s campaign stop, says he believes the presidential election was “stolen” and that there was “fraud everywhere.”

“Maybe we can do it better this time around, so long as there are proper checks and balances in place, I think we’ll be okay,” said Dew.

Without presenting credible evidence of corruption, President Trump has called on Gov. Brian Kemp to resign.

Loeffler says she, Trump and Kemp all share frustration with the way November played out.

“We have to make sure that Georgians trust this process. It’s not a partisan issue, it’s an American issue, where we have to have free, trusted, accurate election and the buck stops with the secretary of state,” said Loeffler.

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has brushed off calls from Loeffler and David Perdue to resign and maintains the November elections were free of any significant voter fraud. Still, Raffensperger said he supports ending the state’s “no-excuse” absentee voting law, citing the potential for fraud and the workload for counites.

Abrams says the recently-completed audit of absentee ballot signatures in Cobb County, which showed a 99.99% accuracy rate, is more proof that there was no fraud in November.

“If the system works and the system is sound, why eliminate the system unless you’re trying to eliminate the right to vote,” said Abrams. “That’s a question I think every voter should ask.”