Brynn Anderson/AP Photo
Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) greets supporters while campaigning on Saturday.
PEACHTREE CITY, GEORGIA – At one of Sen. Kelly Loeffler’s final re-election rallies, Peachtree resident Gail Allen recalls how just that morning, she saw another video confirming that Georgia’s general election was “rigged.” Gail doesn’t remember exactly where she saw the clip; her husband Steve suggests Newsmax or possibly one of the pro-Trump Facebook pages. But it’s made election integrity one of their top concerns.
Steve lays out for me a three-pronged approach to how voter fraud took place in Georgia and all the other swing states that President Donald Trump happened to lose. He’s emailed Georgia’s Republican Gov. Brian Kemp and his local elected officials about his concerns, but he hasn’t yet heard back from them. “The system is rigged against Republicans,” Steve says. But he’s holding out hope for January 6.
On January 6, the day after the Georgia runoffs, Congress is scheduled to certify the election results. While several Trump-aligned members of Congress have stated their intention to object to certification, it’s unclear how plausible it is that their opposition would lead to a second Trump term. But January 6 was clearly atop the minds of Loeffler’s crowd on Saturday, perhaps more than the January 5 election that could return her to the Senate.
“Trump should keep fighting the election results. Senators should stand up on January 6 and let our voices be heard,” Newman resident David Wilkerson says, in an interview with the Prospect. “He should never concede, even if Joe Biden gets in there on January 20.”
Wilkerson already voted early in person for the Republican candidates in the runoff, but he’s not sure his vote will count. He doesn’t trust the results that the runoff will yield, and he’s written off November’s results as a “stolen” election.
Dueling Senate runoff rallies across Georgia in the final weekend of campaigning demonstrated how divided the state—and the country—will be, no matter the result on Tuesday. It’s not just that the coalitions are different, one being observably more diverse and the other less likely to be wearing a mask. It’s not just the contrasting stump speeches, with Republicans focused on conservative values and Democrats prioritizing policy bullet points.
But Republicans and Democrats have vastly different expectations for their desired future senators.
Republicans at Loeffler’s Peachtree City rally focused on how corrupt the November election was and how necessary it was to still support Trump. While passenger jets took off in the background at the regional airport, supporters were candid about their fears of voter fraud corrupting the election. For her part, Loeffler was more vague, saying she would “support” President Trump. Following the group prayer that kicked off the event, one local elected official warming up the crowd encouraged people to write letters—not emails—asking for the state’s election results to not be recognized.
Meanwhile, at Jon Ossoff’s canvassing kickoff rally outside Athens-Clarke County City Hall, attendees were more concerned about the gridlock that would happen in Washington if Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) maintained his post as majority leader. When McConnell’s name was first mentioned at the rally, someone in the crowd yelled, “F— him.”
Mail carrier Anita Ransom, of Bethlehem, came to the rally to see Ossoff in person, but she voted for him because the Republicans are acting like “dictators” who don’t care about the working class. The recent battle in the Senate over increasing direct payments appears to have struck a nerve with her. “[McConnell is] like Trump. He’s not trying to negotiate, be fair. It’s just what he wants. He’s like watching Judge Judy, you already know what he’s going to do,” Ransom says. She adds that the $600 relief checks are a joke.
Ossoff started his speech by discussing the pandemic and need for federal relief. Then he progressed to a litany of policy ideas that could be implemented with Democrats in control of the Senate. Carrying the same energy as the rap concert that started the rally, Ossoff endorsed bills that would address infrastructure, jobs, and clean energy. He was the only person at either rally to mention slain Georgia resident Ahmaud Arbery, saying that it’s time for a new Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act.
No one at the Ossoff rally mentioned January 6.
While the runoffs are officially two separate races, both the Democratic challengers and the Republican incumbents have combined many of their advertising and organizing efforts. It’s presumed that few people, if any, will vote for one Democrat and one Republican.
Democrats called out, “Door Knock for Warnock” and “Vote Your Ossoff” at the rally in Athens. And in Peachtree City, Loeffler supporters cheered for a combined “David and Kelly” and their respective successes in business.
Insults were also doled out in pairs. Loeffler called Ossoff, who’s officially challenging David Perdue, “a trust fund baby who’s done nothing in his life” before targeting Rev. Raphael Warnock, whose name she seldom says without the prefix “radical liberal.” And Ossoff highlighted the insider trading allegations that have tarnished both Republicans this year, saying that instead of responding to the people’s needs in the pandemic, “their first call was to their brokers.”
Tuesday’s election is already set to break voter turnout records (and may even be on par with the November election), and the races are projected to be tight. But the tension isn’t confined to the Peach State. And no matter which party wins, their voters are sending them to Washington with two very different mandates, and one side is bound to be disappointed.
