On Sunday, Georgia Democratic senatorial candidate Raphael Warnock attacked incumbent GOP Senator Kelly Loeffler for “playing political games” while “Georgians are wondering when they’re going to get some to get some COVID-19 relief.”
While Georgians have been suffering, The New Georgia Project, a voter-registration nonprofit founded by Stacey Abrams and for which Warnock served as CEO from 2017 to February 2020, collected nearly half a million dollars from the Paycheck Protection Program, The Washington Free Beacon reported.
Warnock’s campaign website states that as a U.S. senator, he would be “Working to support transparency around economic development programs and ensuring the small businesses that are drivers of our economy are not ignored from programs like the Paycheck Protection Program in favor of wealthy corporations that are politically well-connected.”
“The New Georgia Project has also come under fire for alleged financial mismanagement,” The Free Beacon reported. “During her tenure leading the group, Abrams faced criticism for paying herself a $177,500 salary for 20 hours of work per week. The nonprofit is now under investigation by Georgia’s secretary of state, Republican Brad Raffensperger, for allegedly sending ballot applications to non-residents.”
At the Sunday debate, Warnock attacked Loeffler, insinuating that she didn’t care about ordinary citizens because she was wealthy. He said of himself:
Here’s a kid who grew up in public housing, I’m running for the United States Senate against the wealthiest member of Congress. Only in America is that possible and I am fighting to make sure that kids like me, whether they are growing up in public housing, down in Savannah, Georgia, or rural disaffected communities in North Georgia, that they have access to the American dream that I believe so much in. And I’m concerned that Washington is not focused on ordinary people. You can’t tell the difference between Washington back rooms and corporate boardrooms. My opponent represents the worst of that kind of problem and that’s why I’m grateful for this opportunity.
Loeffler fired back:
I was born and raised on a farm. I grew up working in the fields. I waitressed my way through school and I was the first in my family to graduate from college. I worked hard to live the American dream and became a job creator right here in Georgia. But this type of rhetoric is a distraction from the issues at hand. The Democrats want to fundamentally change America and the agent of change is my opponent radical liberal Raphael Warnock, someone that has had attacked police from the pulpit, someone that has attacked our military, someone that has agreed to raise taxes on hardworking Georgians, as much as $2,000 per family off the bat.
Later, Warnock again spoke of Georgians and COVID-19 relief, stating, “Georgians are wondering when are they going to get some COVID-19 relief? They’re wondering who is going to put small businesses in front of the large corporate giants. And they’re wondering when are we going to give to people we call essential workers and essential wage.”