Tennessee, Georgia GOP rally for Loeffler
Southern Republicans continue to denounce Georgia election results while calling for Georgians to vote for Sen. Kelly Loeffler and Sen. David Perdue in a pair of runoff elections that will determine party control of the U.S. Senate.
More than 100 people gathered on and around the patio of a Ringgold hotel Saturday for a fiery rally where Republicans from Tennessee and Georgia rallied for Loeffler.
Republican Congressman Chuck Fleischmann, who represents Tennessee’s third district including Chattanooga,
kicked the event off with a donation and a call to action.
“Like most of you all this week, this year, I’ve got Georgia on my mind. And I have Kelly Loeffler, our great senator, on my heart because she’s gonna go out and win and win big,” Fleischmann said before presenting a $2,500 check to Loeffler’s campaign.
“I’m gonna ask you to get your friends, your neighbors and your checkbooks out like I did today,” he said. “Here’s a check from my leadership PAC, which has been drained out because we’ve elected Republicans from all across America.”
Representative-elect Marjorie Taylor Green spoke next, again denouncing the Georgia results in the 2020 general election — the same election in which she was chosen to represent Georgia in Congress.
“Now, I don’t know about you guys, but Nov. 3 turned out a lot different than I expected. I do not believe Joe Biden won Georgia,” she said, spurring cheers and support from the crowd. “I’m gonna tell you
right now, I was born and raised, I’ve lived in Georgia my entire life, and I know for a fact Georgia is a red state.
“We did not elect sleepy Joe Biden. He’s not going to be my president.”
Then Green said that Republicans need to vote in January despite election security concerns in Georgia.
“But as we work through this process, I want to inform all of you and give you a message of hope and encouragement. A lot of people are upset about the president’s election, rightfully so, I am too. There’s a lot of people working on it,” she said. “But there’s something that we have to keep our eyes focused on, we have to focus on Jan. 5 here in Georgia on fighting for our Senate seats.”
Green also called for supporters to “hold the line” in order to protect Georgia against what she referred to as the “socialist” opposition and maintain Republican control of the Senate.
“We are not going to let Hollywood, George Soros, Stacey Abrams, Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, AOC and the squad come to Georgia and steal our senate seats,” she said. “Georgia does not want socialism. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff embrace socialist values of the Democratic Party.”
Loeffler embraced both Green’s attacks on the presidential election and her anti-socialism narrative.
“Can we talk about what’s on the line here? Georgia is the battleground, but the future of the country is on the line, and we are the firewall to stopping socialism,” Loeffler said, invoking her relationship with President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.
“You know what his message was? ‘Stay in the fight, Georgia.’ That’s why we’re here, stay in the fight,” she said. “That’s what we have to do, you know why? Because Chuck Schumer told us why. ‘Now we take Georgia, then we change America.’ If that’s not a shot over the bow, I don’t know what is.”
After the speech, Loeffler told reporters that she and Perdue were not ready to accept the November election results.
“I fully support President Trump and his campaign’s work to make sure that they’re pursuing the avenues at their disposal to make sure that this was a fair election and that every legal vote is counted and that no illegal votes are counted and that’s how our system is designed. We’re built for this process. That’s what’s at play right now,” she said, defending Trump’s legal battle with several key states that have been called for Biden, including Georgia.
“But also what I’m very focused on is making sure Georgians understand that choice is on the ballot Jan. 5. We have to turn out and vote because the American Dream is on the ballot,” she said, again calling her opponent a socialist. “We have to stand up against socialist ideas that Chuck Schumer and the radical Democrats want to bring to this country. And that’s really what President Trump has said, too; he’s encouraged Georgians to get out for David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler because that’s what’s on the ballot.”
Loeffler did not address concerns about voter safety in the January runoff election when asked.
One voter, Deb Cornett, showed up in opposition, heckling Loeffler from over a fence during her press conference.
“[Loeffler] is not even from Georgia, she won’t represent Georgians,” she said, noting she’d vote for both Ossoff and Warnock in January. “And Perdue is a Q-Anon nut job.”
Loeffler, who tested positive for COVID-19 one week ago, spoke and fielded questions from reporters without a mask, wearing one only to shake hands and take photos with constituents.
According to a campaign spokeswoman, the senator had tested negative for the virus twice this week, since the positive test.
At the outdoor event, less than half of the attendees wore masks and there were no distancing requirements.