Both Parties Make Final Pitches to Georgia Voters Ahead of Senate Runoff

Donald Trump’s plan to campaign in Georgia for two Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate has sparked concern within the party that the president’s efforts could backfire, jeopardizing their bid to keep a majority in the upper chamber.

Several GOP figures have raised alarm before Trump’s expected visit to Valdosta on Saturday evening for a rally with Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler -- both of whom face Jan. 5 run-off elections that will determine which party controls the Senate.

Ahead of his trip, Trump has repeatedly alleged -- without offering evidence -- that widespread fraud cost him victories in Georgia and other key states in his Nov. 3 loss to Joe Biden. He has disparaged the state’s most prominent Republicans, including Governor Brian Kemp, who has been a staunch ally of the president.

Republicans fear the president’s efforts to undermine Georgia’s vote could divide the party and suppress votes for Perdue and Loeffler.

“He needs to come here and be in positive mode. And the positive mode needs to be all about the importance of the election of these two folks to the Senate,” former GOP Senator Saxby Chambliss of Georgia said in an interview.

Some of Trump’s most fervent loyalists have urged his supporters against voting in the runoff because they say the state’s election system is broken beyond repair. Pro-Trump attorneys Sidney Powell and Lin Wood said Wednesday that Georgians should not vote until they can be sure their ballots are “secure.”

Chambliss said it is “totally ridiculous” for some Trump allies to claim that the run-off elections will be plagued by fraud and to discourage GOP voters from casting ballots. “We’ve got to have every Republican turning out to vote,” he said.

Trump’s campaign has sought to assuage the concerns of Georgia Republicans. Communications director Tim Murtaugh tweeted Thursday that Trump was coming to the state because “control of the U.S. Senate is on the line” and that Trump would be rallying voters behind Perdue and Loeffler.

The president also communicated directly to Powell and Wood on Wednesday that he believes it’s important to re-elect Loeffler and Perdue and his trip on Saturday will signal to his voters how they should approach the runoff elections, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Biden won Georgia by fewer than 13,000 votes, and Republicans say the president can still boost turnout for Perdue and Loeffler if he sets aside his own electoral grievances and focuses on what’s at stake in the Senate race. Vice President Mike Pence is also scheduled to rally with the two senators on Friday in Savannah.

With Democrats in control of the House and the White House, the outcome in the Senate will determine how many of Trump’s policies stay intact and how many of Biden’s proposals become law.

“He’s got to find the balance between what he believes was fraud in Georgia and still trusting the system enough to re-elect them,” said Eric Johnson, a former Georgia state senator who is an outside adviser to Loeffler’s campaign. The Senate races are “crucial for his legacy if he is not re-elected and the values that we all supported,” Johnson added.

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