The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A Senate GOP fifirewall in Georgia shows cracks
Ossoffffffffffff- Perdue nowa toss- up; Loefflffler, Collins battle for a runoffff slot.
ATHENS—In afi fight to keep control of the U.S. Senate, national Republicans viewed Georgia’s twin contests as part of a lastditch fifirewall. With a week until Election Day, resurgent Democrats are chipping away at that foundation.
The latest Atlanta Journal- Constitution poll shows Jon Ossoffff dead locked with Republican U.S. Sen. David Perdue, whowas once heavily favored to win a second term. And Democrat Raphael Warnock, a pastor and fifirst- time candidate, is the clear front- runner in the chaotic special election for U.S. Sen. Kelly Loefflffler’s seat.
The two Democrats are leveraging President Donald Trump’s struggling poll numbers, and Warnock is taking advantage of the bitter internal rift between Loefflffler and U. S. Rep. Doug Collins, hermost formidable Republican opponent in the 21- candidate race. The poll pegged Collins at 21% and Loefflffler at 20%
— withroughly 15% ofRepublican voters undecided in that race.
Ossoff and Warnock are buoyed by a late push fromJoe Biden’s campaign, which is pivoting to Georgia in the homestretch. The former vice president will make two stops in Georgia today, and his running mate, KamalaHarris, spent much of Friday campaigning in Atlanta, including sharing the stage with the Ossoff and Warnock at an evening rally.
And in the final days of the race the two Democrats are emphasizing positions on gun control, combating the pandemic, health care expansion and tax policy that theirRepublican adversaries have relentlessly tried to cast as part of a “radical socialist agenda.”
Ossoff pushed back against that message with an urgent one of his own in front of a crowd of about 150 young voters Thursday in downtown Athens.
Speaking fromthe bed of awhite pickup truck across the street fromthe University of Georgia’s famous Arch, Ossoff called the election “a matter of life and death” as he tied Perdue to the Trumpadministration’s erratic pandemic response and portrayed a vote for the Republican as a vote against abortion rights, equal rights and civil rights.
“We cannot take four more ye a r s o f Donald Trump,” he told the crowd, mostly students. “We deserve better than this, y’all.”
Perdue’s campaign, meanwhile, leaned into the senator’s connection with Trump. At a stop in Duluth, formerWhiteHouse press secretary SarahHuckabee Sanders drew a line between the president and Perdue, a former Fortune 500 chief executive.
“They’re both running their own races, but there are similarities between
both of them being outsiders going intoWashington,” she said in an interview. “If we want the continued status quo of corruptWashington, there’s a candidate for that in both of those races. If we want someone who will be the change agent to shake up Washington, there’s a candidate for that.”
The special election contest for Loeffler’s seat was long destined to land in a January runoff, which is required by law if no candidate gets a majority of the vote. But the AJC poll is the latest to suggest that Perdue’s race is so close that it, too, could wind up in overtime.
That would bring even more attention to Georgia, which has attained battleground status after nearly a quarter- century as safe Republican territory in White House contests. More than $ 190 million in TV advertising has already been spent on both Senate races, according to media analyst Rick Dent, including roughly $ 140 million in the Perdue contest.
“If control of the Senate is at stake, they might spend $ 1 billion in Georgia by January,” said Fran Millar, a former Republican state senator, only half joking.
Stay in! Get out!
Two very different trends are playing out in the Loeffler race.
At the urging of party leaders, the AJC poll shows that Democrats have rallied behindWarnock’s campaign and shifted away fromtwo lesser- known contenders. Educator Matt Lieberman and former federal prosecutor Ed Tarver both have plummeted to the single digitswhileWarnock’s support has climbed to 34%.
While top Democrats waged an extraordinary campaign to boost Warnock in the free- for- all race, Republicans have divided intowarring campsbetween Loeffler and Collins at the urging of Trump. He’s declined to pick a favorite and has welcomed the infighting as a way to boost overall turnout.
“Well, I sort of like it. You know why? They’re going to be in there fighting, fighting, fighting,” he said at a recent campaign stop in Atlanta. “Don’t anybody get out. And everybody’s going to come with them. And the only thing I know for sure, they’re all going to vote for me.”
That’s also meant Warnock has largely escaped intense criticism from the two Republicans as they focus on battering each other over issues catering to an intensely conservative crowd.
In the past few weeks, they’ve traded blows over links to China, criticized one another for coziness with Stacey Abrams and jockeyed over who is the fiercest Trump ally.
The Democrats running for Senate have focused much of their attention on densely populated metro Atlanta, where they’re trying to drive up turnout.
Over theweekend, Ossoff and Warnock shared the same stage — well, it was a flag- draped pickup truck — in Lawrenceville to rally Democrats toturnonce- conservative Gwinnett County a deeper shade of blue.
“It’s certainly one of the more diverse counties in our state,” Warnock said. “It represents the new and emerging America, and I think it will have a signal role in flipping the state blue.”
On Monday, Ossoff reminded people to vote for him andWarnock. “The chance to flip two Senate seats in Georgia is not an opportunity,” he said. “It’s an obligation.”
The two top Republicans in the special election, meanwhile, remain at war with one another. At stops across South Georgia, Collins mocked Loeffler for pumping an additional $ 3 million of her own cash into the contest.
“This is how desperate it’s getting,” the four- term congressman said in Cordele. “She thinks that money can buy this thing. She put in $ 3 million more money yesterday, and we heard there’s another $ 3 million coming.”
He added: “The last time I checked, Georgia’s not for sale. And it’s never going to be for sale.”
Loeffler swiped back in a social media post that illustrated the tension in the race. She said she can’t defend herself in person because she’s in Washington to vote onU. S. Supreme Court nomineeAmy Coney Barrett — whom she called a “real conservative.”
“Because the very LAST thingAmerica needs ismore fake conservatives like you and John Roberts in positions of power,” she said. “But don’t worry, I’ll be back in GA soon to beat you & Warnock.”