Trump Says People Shouldn’t Boycott Georgia Runoff Elections, Only ‘Very Sick People’ Benefit

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after participating in a Thanksgiving teleconference with members of the United States military, at the White House in Washington on Nov. 26, 2020. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

President Donald Trump rejected calls to boycott the Georgia Senate election in early January, suggesting that it’s disinformation designed to benefit Democratic candidates Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock.

“No, the 2020 Election was a total scam, we won by a lot (and will hopefully turn over the fraudulent result), but we must get out and help David and Kelly, two GREAT people,” he wrote on Twitter Friday, referring to Sens. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) and David Perdue (R-Ga.).

“Otherwise,” he added, “we are playing right into the hands of some very sick people. I will be in Georgia on Saturday!”

In a Thursday news conference at the White House, Trump told reporters about his plans in Georgia, suggesting he'll hold a rally or a similar event.

“I’ll be going there. I’ll probably be going on Saturday,” Trump said. “We’re looking for a site. We’re going to have a tremendous turnout, and we seem to always have a good turnout. The people are very disappointed that we were robbed. We were robbed. I won that by hundreds of thousands of votes. Everybody knows it.”

The White House later stated that Trump is planning a Saturday, Dec. 3 trip, not a trip on Saturday, Nov. 28.

Loeffler and Perdue didn’t receive more than 50 percent of the vote, triggering runoffs with Warnock and Ossoff, respectively. Perdue received 90,000 more votes than Ossoff during the Nov. 3 election.

The runoff election will be held on Jan. 5, 2021.

Currently, Republicans hold a 50–48 lead over Democrats in the Senate. If a 50–50 tie occurs, the vice president serves as the tiebreaker on votes. If the GOP wins one seat, they keep control over the upper chamber of Congress.

Vice President Mike Pence, as well as Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.), have traveled to Georgia to rally for Perdue and Loeffler.

Donald Trump Jr., the president’s oldest son, also told Republicans that they shouldn’t boycott the election and should vote for Perdue and Loeffler.

“I’m seeing a lot of talk from people that are supposed to be on our side telling GOP voters not to go out & vote for [Kelly Loeffler] and [David Perdue],” he wrote on Twitter. “That is NONSENSE. IGNORE those people. We need ALL of our people coming out to vote for Kelly and David.”

Meanwhile, some experts have warned Democrats who have expressed a willingness to move to Georgia to vote in the election. Former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang said earlier this month that he’s planning to move to the Peach State to help Ossoff and Warnock, while some mainstream news pundits said they hope people move there to vote.