Trump Headed to Georgia to Again Campaign for GOP Senate Candidates

Trump Headed to Georgia to Again Campaign for GOP Senate Candidates
President Donald Trump departs on the South Lawn of the White House, in Washington, on Dec. 12, 2020. Al Drago/Getty Images
Updated:

President Donald Trump will again head to Georgia to campaign for Republican Senate candidates a day before a key runoff election that will determine which party controls the upper chamber.

“As badly as we were treated in Georgia by the ‘Republican’ Governor and ‘Republican’ Secretary of State, we must have a massive victory for two great people, @KLoeffler & @sendavidperdue, on January 5th,” Trump announced on Saturday. “I will be having a big Rally for them on Monday night, January 4th. WIN!”

The Jan. 5 runoff election will see Republican incumbents Sens. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) and David Perdue (R-Ga.) pit against Democratic candidates Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff.

If Trump goes, it would be his second time traveling to the Peach State to rally support for the two senators. The president last campaigned in the state earlier this month.

Members of Trump’s family are also campaigning for Loeffler and Perdue, who both currently are projected to hold narrow leads over their opponents, according to RealClearPolitics data.
Donald Trump Jr. made an appearance at a rally in Georgia’s Catoosa County on Saturday urging voters to cast their votes early.

“Do not squander this opportunity,” said the president’s eldest son. “Because I promise you, you will regret it. You will wake up one day in January and say, ‘Crap. Should’ve done a little bit more.’ Whatever you would do to reverse that feeling then, do it now.”

Meanwhile, the first daughter and White House adviser Ivanka Trump is scheduled to travel around Georgia, starting Monday, to campaign for the senators. She plans to make stops in Milton, Suwanee, and Walton County, according to the Georgia GOP.

“She will highlight the historic accomplishments of the Trump Administration with the help of the Republican Senate Majority, along with the importance of voting in the Georgia runoff elections,” the Georgia Republican Party said in an emailed statement.

The Georgia race is key for both parties as it will determine the majority in the Senate. Republicans currently hold 50 seats, meaning that Democrats will need to win both races in Georgia and also prevail in the contested presidential election to gain control of the White House and both chambers of Congress.

Early voting is underway in the state. As of Dec. 19. more than 1.3 million Georgians have voted in the election, which is about 7 percent lower at a comparable point in the 2020 general election, according to Georgia Vote, a website that tracks the state’s voting turnout.

Georgia is one of the seven states in which its 2020 election results are being challenged by Republicans and the Trump campaign. Trump and third parties have launched various lawsuits in the state in an attempt to overturn the certification of the Democrat electors over concerns and allegations that votes were made under fraudulent and illegal circumstances.

In one of the cases, the Trump campaign filed an election contest alleging that several Georgia election officials committed “repeated violations of the election code” that “constituted an abandonment of the legislature’s duly enacted framework for conducting the election and for choosing presidential electors, contrary to Georgia law and the United States Constitution.”

The lawsuit is asking the court to declare that ineligible voters cast votes during the Nov. 3 election, void the results of the election, and order a new presidential election in the state, among other remedies.

GQ Pan and Tom Ozimek contributed to this report.