President-elect Donald Trump announced late on Wednesday that he has nominated business leader and former U.S. Senator Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) to be the next administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA).
&#8220;Kelly will bring her experience in business and Washington to reduce red tape, and unleash opportunity for our Small Businesses to grow, innovate, and thrive,&#8221; Trump said in a statement. &#8220;She will focus on ensuring that SBA is accountable to Taxpayers by cracking down on waste, fraud, and regulatory overreach.&#8221;
Trump praised Loeffler as a &#8220;tremendous fighter&#8221; when she served in the U.S. Senate during his first term in office, noting that she helped pass the first-ever bill to protect women in sports.
&#8220;Prior to her tenure in the U.S. Senate, Kelly built a 25 year career in financial services and technology,&#8221; Trump added. &#8220;Along with her amazing husband, Jeff, she helped build a Fortune 500 company from 100 employees to over 10,000, as Executive VP. She and Jeff also helped me secure the Big Election Win in Georgia!&#8221;
Over the last four years, Trump said that Loeffler has worked to promote election integrity, outreach, and voter registration through her nonprofit, Greater Georgia.
<a href="https://get.dailywire.com/gift-guide/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CHECK OUT THE DAILY WIRE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE</a>
&#8220;In addition to SBA Administrator, I’ve appointed her Co-Chair of the Presidential Inaugural Committee,&#8221; Trump added.
Loeffler responded to the announcement by saying that she was &#8220;deeply honored&#8221; as she accepted the nomination.
&#8220;Small businesses are huge for America,&#8221; she said. &#8220;They’re the beating heart of our economy and the gateway to the American Dream.
&#8220;The America First Agenda will unleash a new era of growth and opportunity for job creators and innovators!&#8221; she added.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
As a fellow entrepreneur and business leader, I am deeply honored to accept President Trump’s nomination to serve as SBA Administrator.
Small businesses are huge for America. They’re the beating heart of our economy and the gateway to the American Dream.
The America First… <a href="https://t.co/ILUqMcQ7pT">pic.twitter.com/ILUqMcQ7pT</a>
— Kelly Loeffler (@KLoeffler) <a href="https://twitter.com/KLoeffler/status/1864461253399208276?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 5, 2024</a></blockquote>

2024 Presidential Candidates Speak At Erick Erickson’s The Gathering Event

Trump Nominates ‘Tremendous Fighter’ Kelly Loeffler For SBA Administrator

Donald Trump

General

Kelly Loeffler

Politics

Small Business Administration

Former Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) has started a voter organization in Georgia that will focus on getting conservative-leaning Georgians to the polls as well as securing election integrity.
Loeffler lost her seat to Democratic challenger Raphael Warnock on January 6 in a runoff election that was heavily influenced by the turmoil surrounding the presidential election.
The surprising Democrat gains in the Peach State have been largely attributed to voter outreach headed by failed Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams. As highlighted by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/stacey-abrams-was-again-lauded-as-an-election-hero-it-turns-out-georgia-saw-its-lowest-share-of-black-vote-since-2006">The Daily Wire</a>, however, the data to support such a claim is not clear.
Loeffler has reportedly dumped a seven-figure sum into the creation of &#8220;Greater Georgia&#8221; and will serve as chairwoman.
The group, <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/kelly-loeffler-starts-voter-organization-to-rival-stacey-abrams-political-machine-after-gop-losses-in-georgia">according</a> to Fox News, will &#8220;mirror&#8221; some of the functions of Abrams&#8217; &#8220;Fair Fight Action&#8221; while &#8220;strengthening election security&#8221; and focusing on &#8220;election transparency and uniformity.&#8221;
&#8220;Our state is greater – and our democracy is stronger – when everyone’s voice is heard, and that’s exactly what Greater Georgia’s work is about,&#8221; said a statement from Loeffler.
&#8220;But for too many in our state, the importance – and even the sanctity of their vote – is in question,&#8221; the Republican continued. &#8221; That’s why we’re rolling up our sleeves to register conservative-leaning voters who have been overlooked, to regularly engage more communities, and to strengthen election integrity across our state.&#8221;
&#8220;Elections at every level have consequences – and we’re already seeing the consequences of recent elections play out in Georgia and across the country. Conservatives have a winning message, we just need to go out and share it with more people,&#8221; Loeffler added. &#8220;By registering new voters, broadening our outreach, and rebuilding trust in our election process, we can create better outcomes, strengthen our democracy, and lift up more voices in our state.&#8221;
As noted by Fox News, &#8220;Greater Georgia&#8217;s creation follows what many suspect to be disillusionment among GOP voters following former President Donald Trump&#8217;s election loss about whether voting matters.&#8221;
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has seemingly publicly blamed Trump for Senate losses in Georgia. &#8220;Georgia was a fiasco,&#8221; he told <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/mcconnell-atop-a-fractious-party-is-open-to-jumping-into-primary-races-11613423935" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Wall Street Journal</a>. &#8220;We all know why that occurred.&#8221;
As noted by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/georgia-voter-group-founded-by-stacey-abrams-under-investigation-for-registering-out-of-state-dead-voters">The Daily Wire</a> in December, a voting group founded by Abrams was named as one of the organizations to be under investigation for allegedly registering out-of-state and dead voters:
<blockquote>Stacey Abrams’ voter registration group, The New Georgia Project, is one of three such organizations now under investigation by the Georgia Secretary of State amid concerns that certain voting rights groups were “seeking to ‘aggressively’ register ‘ineligible, out-of-state, or deceased voters’ before the state’s Jan. 5 Senate runoff election,” <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/voter-group-founded-by-stacey-abrams-under-investigation-seeking-out-of-state-dead">according to Fox News</a>.
Abrams’ group, as well as America Votes and Vote Forward, are largely credited with putting Georgia in play for Democrats in the 2020 presidential election. Abrams even recently credited her own efforts to register Georgia voters and fight what she termed “voter suppression” with helping to secure a win in Georgia for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.</blockquote>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/stacey-abrams-was-again-lauded-as-an-election-hero-it-turns-out-georgia-saw-its-lowest-share-of-black-vote-since-2006">Stacey Abrams Was Again Lauded As An Election Hero. It Turns Out Georgia Saw Its Lowest Share Of Black Vote Since 2006</a>

Stacey Abrams

Fighting Back: Republican Creates Response To Stacey Abrams’ Voter Organization In Georgia, Adds Focus On ‘Election Integrity’

Georgia

Voting

After weeks of campaigning in the turbulent and chaotic aftermath of November 3rd, Georgia’s runoff elections are finally over. With only a handful of votes left to be counted, both Republican incumbents have been defeated. Jon Ossoff — a millionaire armchair socialist-lite — beat David Perdue by over 41,000 votes (0.92%), and Raphael Warnock — a radical who has espoused anti-Semitic and anti-American sentiments — beat Kelly Loeffler by over 79,000 votes (1.8%). 
While it is possible that recounts will be requested, both margins are larger than the threshold required to automatically trigger a recount under Georgia law.
Many close to President Trump expressed disbelief consistent with the denial demonstrated since November’s election, including White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, who <a href="https://twitter.com/kayleighmcenany/status/1346845701284753410?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1346845701284753410%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Feditorial.dailywire.com%2Fwp-admin%2Fpost.php%3Fpost%3D178746action%3Dedit">implied</a> that Warnock’s win was illegitimate. It is likely that some will continue to refuse to accept the reality that Trump, and some who aligned with Trump, lost the election. Setting that debate aside, however, to apply that logic to the Georgia runoff races is simply an act of mathematical denial.
A basic analysis of the<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/01/05/us/elections/results-georgia-runoffs.html"> vote</a> explains precisely why Loeffler will soon be replaced by a radical socialist embroiled in multiple scandals. In the counties of Fulton, Gwinnett, Cobb, and DeKalb — the counties which surround Atlanta — Warnock outperformed his November margins. In Fulton, he increased his margin by 2%. In Gwinnett, 4%. In Cobb, 2.4%. In DeKalb, 2.5%. In the top 35 most populous counties that Loeffler won, she underperformed her November margins, in some cases by multiple percentage points. 
When one candidate improves and another declines, it doesn’t take a mathematical genius to understand why the improved candidate has a better chance of emerging victorious in an already tight race.
The same is true of the closer race between Ossoff and Perdue. In Fulton, Gwinnett, Cobb and DeKalb, Ossoff outperformed his November margins. Indeed, in every county that Ossoff won, he outperformed his November margins, and even flipped two counties (Baldwin and Washington). Perdue, on the other hand, consistently underperformed in multiple counties. Given that Perdue only received 1.8% more than Ossoff in the November election, it’s easy to see how Ossoff achieved his victory.
The brutal fact is that Republicans lost in Georgia solely because Republican voter turnout decreased since November. The driving factors behind this reduction in turnout in historically red counties are numerous, but likely include the campaign against the security and safety of the elections in Georgia. It’s difficult, after all, to convince people to vote while also claiming that their vote is meaningless. While that campaign ultimately drove down voter turnout, the Democrats focused on the opposite.
If Republicans and conservatives hope to avoid making the same mistakes of this election, then it’s crucial that we learn from these mistakes. At its heart, this means understanding that turnout cannot be taken for granted and that any electoral strategy which involves suppressing our own vote will have dire consequences.
Ultimately, the Democrats will now control the White House, the House of Representatives and the Senate entirely because of Republicans&#8217; self-inflicted wounds. 
Ian Haworth is host of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkPxdVsNp7k&amp;list=PLhi-aq-5DfuTQRVv1IOVMnA735vEYO0f5">The Ian Haworth Show</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E05t2L69Sks&amp;list=PLhi-aq-5DfuRHu5r0IV5qr4h2rBAV9oBd">The Truth in 60 Seconds</a>. Follow him on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/ighaworth">@ighaworth</a>.
The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Ossoff and Warnock

The Numbers Don’t Lie: Voter Turnout Is The Reason Ossoff And Warnock Won

David Perdue

Election 2020

Jon Ossoff

Raphael Warnock

U.S. Senate

Senator Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) walked back her support for contesting the Electoral College certification in the Senate on Wednesday evening, explaining that she could no longer support doing so after anti-certification rioters stormed the Capitol building.
“When I arrived in Washington this morning, I fully intended to object to the certification of the electoral votes,” said Loeffler on the Senate floor on Wednesday evening. “However, the events that have transpired today have forced me to reconsider, and I cannot now, in good conscience, object to the certification of these electors.”
“The violence, the lawlessness, and siege of the halls of Congress are abhorrent and stand as a direct attack on the very institution my objection was intended to protect: The sanctity of the American Democratic process,” argued Loeffler.
Loeffler said that she still believed there were too many “last-minute changes” and irregularities, but that there could be no excuse for what “took place in these chambers today, and I pray that America never suffers such a dark day again.”
Earlier this week, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger (R) said that President Donald Trump was “just plain wrong” about election irregularities and that the president was relying on bad data. The Georgia Secretary of State has described fighting election-related misinformation as “rumor whack-a-mole,” <a href="https://www.wjcl.com/article/truth-matters-georgia-secretary-of-state-says-president-trump-is-latching-on-to-debunked-rumors/35117973#">reports</a> WJCL.
Gabriel Sterling, the Chief Operating Officer for the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office, held a press conference on Monday in which he dissected alleged election misinformation. He covered various theories in the press conference, including a State Farm Arena theory, a “multiple-scanning” theory, and a claim that 2,056 felons voted in the election (Sterling explained why the number could only be as high as 74, and that the real number would “be lower than that” once they investigate every potential case of a felon voting). His full press conference, and explanation of the above claims as well as many others, can be viewed <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7lDlqJ66fU">here</a>.
In her Senate speech, Loeffler called on the body to focus on “protecting the integrity of our elections” and restoring the faith in the Democratic process: “There can be no disagreement that upholding Democracy is the only path to preserving our Republic.”
Earlier in the day, after federal lawmakers were evacuated from the House and Senate chambers, Loeffler tweeted: “Violence is abhorrent and I strongly condemn today’s attacks on our Capitol. We must stand united as one nation under God. I’m grateful for our brave men and women of law enforcement. May God bless America.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Violence is abhorrent and I strongly condemn today’s attacks on our Capitol.
We must stand united as one nation under God.
I’m grateful for our brave men and women of law enforcement.
May God bless America.
— Senator Kelly Loeffler (@SenatorLoeffler) <a href="https://twitter.com/SenatorLoeffler/status/1346957048819441666?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 6, 2021</a></blockquote>

Joint Session Of Congress Held To Confirm Presidential Election Result

Loeffler Changes Certification Stance After Capitol Building Swarmed: ‘I Cannot Now, In Good Conscience, Object’

Washington D.C.

If Georgia Democratic Senate candidate Jon Ossoff ultimately prevails over incumbent GOP senator David Perdue (and at this moment the issue is still in doubt), the Democrats will control the White House, the Senate, and the House of Representatives, which has occurred in five different periods since World War II.
One possible comfort for members of the GOP if they lose the Senate: in the last forty years, the two times the Democratic Party has controlled all three entities it has only lasted for two years: 1993-1994, 2009-2010. In the ten years before that, they controlled all three entities for four years: 1977-1980.
Following the tenure of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, when the Democrats held control of those three entities for his entire twelve-year tenure (1933-1945), the Democrats held control between the years 1949-1952, 1961-1968, 1977-1980, 1993-1994, and 2009-2010. The GOP has controlled the three entities in 1953-54, 2003-2004, and 2016-2017.
In 1949, the Democrats held a whopping 54-42 lead in the Senate, with a 92-vote lead in the House. That shrank to a tiny one-vote Senate lead and 35-vote House lead in 1951. In the 1952 election, the GOP, led by Dwight Eisenhower, won the White House, the Senate, and the House.
The next time the Democrats were in control was in 1961, after the election of John F. Kennedy. Their Senate lead was massive: 64-36; (they had gained that huge lead in the 1985 elections) their House lead was 89 votes. They essentially kept similar numbers through the presidency of Lyndon Johnson; Richard Nixon’s election in 1968 gave the GOP the White House, but the House of Representatives was in control of the Democratic Party for an astonishing forty years, from the 1954 elections until the 1994 elections.
The election of Bill Clinton in 1992 gave the Democrats control of all three entities for the first time in 24 years; they controlled the Senate by a large margin, 57-43, and held a sizable 82-vote lead in the House.
The 1994 election, though, was a historic reversal; the GOP swept 56 seats in the House, turning what had been an 82-vote deficit into a 30-vote majority. After the election of 2000, the GOP gained control of the White House with the election of George W. Bush, still held control of the House, and actually would have controlled the Senate, which had wound up in a 50-50 tie, but Senator Jim Jeffords of Vermont switched from the Republican Party to become an independent, received his committee assignments from the Senate Democrats and became chairman of a standing committee, thus denying control to the GOP.
The GOP did gain control in 2003, garnering a three-vote Senate lead and a mere 12-vote majority in the House. The four years between 2003-2007 were the longest the GOP had controlled all three entities since before Roosevelt.
In 2012, Barack Obama’s election meant the Democrats gained control of all three entities; the Democrats held a huge 60-40 majority in the Senate and a 79-vote lead in the House. That only lasted two years; in 2016 the GOP gained control of all three entities; that only lasted two years.

Capitol Building in Washington, DC

Recent History Of One-Party Rule Shows It Doesn’t Last For Long

Democratic Party

Republican Party

Republican Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue both face potential losses in their Senate runoff races as election night continues to unfold in Georgia.
With more than 98% of the vote already counted, Reverend Raphael Warnock, a far-left Democrat, is up by approximately 50,000 votes over Loeffler and has been declared the winner by multiple news organizations. The razor thin margin that Perdue had over Democrat Jon Ossoff late on Tuesday night quickly evaporated and turned into a deficit of more than 15,000 votes.
&#8220;In largely complete results, Republican Sen. David Perdue won smaller vote margins than in November in about one-third of Georgia&#8217;s counties,&#8221; The Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/georgia-senate-runoff-elections-2021?mod=hp_lead_pos1">reported</a>. &#8220;Where he underperformed tells a clear story: His biggest erosion came in counties that are home to many rural, Black voters.&#8221;
&#8220;Ten of the 11 counties in which Mr. Perdue&#8217;s vote margin declined most from November are labelled as &#8216;African American South&#8217; counties by the American Communities Project, which sorts the nation&#8217;s 3,100 counties by their demographic characteristics. It puts 84 of Georgia&#8217;s 159 counties into this category,&#8221; The Journal added. &#8220;By contrast, Mr. Perdue&#8217;s biggest margin gains compared with November came in a mix of county types. Among them were Bartow and Lumpkin counties, both exurbs of Atlanta, as well as Stephens County, considered an evangelical Christian stronghold. But in a sign that other factors are at work, Mr. Perdue also made strong gains in several other counties categorized as African American South.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Statement from our campaign: <a href="https://t.co/evoAgl05dy">pic.twitter.com/evoAgl05dy</a>
&mdash; David Perdue (@DavidPerdueGA) <a href="https://twitter.com/DavidPerdueGA/status/1346718678868516865?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 6, 2021</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Late on Tuesday night, Loeffler addressed her supporters, saying, &#8220;I&#8217;m asking for every single Georgian, every single American, stay in the fight with us. We&#8217;re going to keep fighting for you. This is about protecting the American dream.&#8221;
&#8220;With the races being so close, election officials with the Secretary of State&#8217;s office say they expect at least one campaign to request a recount,&#8221; Fox 5 <a href="https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/warnock-claims-victory-in-georgia-senate-runoff-loeffler-does-not-concede">reported</a>. &#8220;Under Georgia law, a candidate can request a recount if the margin is less than or equal to 0.5%. That request has to be made within two business days of the results being certified.&#8221;
This report has been updated to include additional information.

US-POLITICS-VOTE-SENATE

Republican Senators In Georgia Facing Potential Disaster As Election Night Unfolds

On Tuesday January 5th, Georgia will host two runoff elections to decide who will represent the state in the US Senate. On November 3rd, incumbents Sen. David Perdue and Sen. Kelly Loeffler and challengers Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock failed to garner 50% of the vote. According to Georgia law, such races must be decided by a majority of the electorate.
Here is what the final polling data is showing on the eve of the elections which will determine whether the GOP will maintain control of the US Senate, or if the Democrats will achieve an effective majority with a 50-50 split being broken by Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
<a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2020/senate/ga/georgia_senate_runoff_election_perdue_vs_ossoff-7319.html#polls">Latest Polls</a> &#8211; Sen. David Perdue vs. Jon Ossoff
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">RealClear Politics Polling Average (12/14 &#8211; 1/3): Ossoff +1%.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Fox 5 (1/3): Tie</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Trafalgar (12/23 &#8211; 12/27): Ossoff +2%.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">WXIA/SUSA (12/16 &#8211; 12/20): Ossoff +5%</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Emerson (12/14 &#8211; 12/16): Perdue +3%.</li>
</ul>
From <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2020/senate/ga/georgia_senate_perdue_vs_ossoff-7067.html">July to late October</a>, Sen. Perdue led Ossoff in the RCP polling average. However, in the month of October, Ossoff rapidly closed in on Perdue, overtaking him on October 29th. 
The final polling average had Ossoff at +0.7%, while Perdue went on to beat Ossoff by 1.8% on Election Day.
<a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2020/senate/ga/georgia_senate_special_election_runoff_loeffler_vs_warnock-7318.html">Latest Polls</a> &#8211; Sen. Kelly Loeffler vs. Raphael Warnock
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">RealClear Politics Polling Average (12/14 &#8211; 1/3): Warnock +1.3%.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Fox 5 (1/3): Tie</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Trafalgar (12/23 &#8211; 12/27): Warnock +1%.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">WXIA/SUSA (12/16 &#8211; 12/20): Warnock +7%.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Emerson (12/14 &#8211; 12/16): Loeffler +3%.</li>
</ul>
Prior to November’s General Election, <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2020/senate/ga/georgia_senate_special_election_open_primary-7069.html">polling data</a> suggested that Warnock was ahead of Loeffler. The RCP polling average put Warnock at +15.7%, WSB-TV at +11%, Emerson at +12%, PPP at +19%, and Monmouth at +19%. 
After Election Day, Warnock had a lead of +7%. It should be noted, however, that this was an open primary, with Republican Doug Collins receiving 20% of the total vote. Hypothetically, had Sen. Loeffler received Collins’ votes, she would have beaten Warnock by 13%.
Key Takeaways
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">The polls for the General Election were inaccurate for both races (off by 2.5% for Perdue vs Ossoff and off by 8.7% for Loeffler vs Warnock). Not only that, pollsters incorrectly predicted that Ossoff would beat Sen. Perdue.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Ossoff’s current polling lead of +1% is similar to his +0.7% lead prior to November’s election. However, Warnock’s lead of +15.7% in November for the General Election is now just +1.3% for the runoff. While this may be caused by the fact that only two candidates are now on the ballot, this could also indicate a decline in popularity for the radical Warnock.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">No major poll correctly predicted the winner of both races. Emerson were the only organization to correctly predict that Perdue would emerge victorious, but they also incorrectly predicted that Loeffler would beat Warnock by 3%.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">While the accuracy and reliability of the polling data is clearly questionable, it is interesting to note that there are several discrepancies between polls for the same candidate. While the Fox 5 poll predicts a tie for both candidates, and Emerson predicts a 3% victory by both Republican candidates, the RealClear Politics average differs by 0.3%, Trafalgar by 1%, and WXIA/SUSA by 2% for both Democrat candidates. If accurate, this indicates that Ossoff and Warnock are experiencing differing levels of support within their party.</li>
</ul>
Ian Haworth is host of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkPxdVsNp7k&amp;list=PLhi-aq-5DfuTQRVv1IOVMnA735vEYO0f5">The Ian Haworth Show</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E05t2L69Sks&amp;list=PLhi-aq-5DfuRHu5r0IV5qr4h2rBAV9oBd">The Truth in 60 Seconds</a>. Follow him on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/ighaworth">@ighaworth</a>.

Georgia Runoff Elections: Will The ‘Expert’ Pollsters Be Wrong Again?

CNN host Jake Tapper called out Democratic Senate candidate Jon Ossoff on Sunday for his false attacks on incumbent Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who is running against Democrat candidate Raphael Warnock.
Ossoff&#8217;s attacks on Loeffler, falsely claiming that she has been &#8220;campaigning&#8221; with a member of the Ku Klux Klan, was so categorically false that left-leaning CNN ran a fact-check <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/31/politics/ossoff-loeffler-kkk-fact-check/index.html">report</a> on the claim last week.
&#8220;This is false,&#8221; CNN ruled. &#8220;A former member of the KKK took a photo with Loeffler while she was campaigning earlier this month. Loeffler&#8217;s campaign said the senator did not know who the man was and would have removed him from the event had she known. This is not, at all, the same as &#8216;campaigning with a klansman,&#8217; as Ossoff claimed. Politicians often take pictures with people they don&#8217;t know.&#8221;
CNN noted that there was &#8220;no evidence&#8221; that Loeffler recognized or sought the support of the man in the picture. Loeffler&#8217;s campaign condemned the man, saying, &#8220;Kelly had no idea who that was, and if she had she would have kicked him out immediately because we condemn in the most vociferous terms everything that he stands for.&#8221;
Tapper pressed Ossoff about the claim during an interview on Sunday on CNN&#8217;s &#8220;State of the Union,&#8221; which comes just two days before election day in Georgia.
Transcript of the exchange below:
<blockquote>JAKE TAPPER: You attacked Senator Loeffler this week, Loeffler, who is running against Democrat Raphael Warnock. You said that, quote, &#8220;Kelly Loeffler been campaigning with a Klansman&#8221; — unquote.
That&#8217;s not true. I mean, there — it is true that a former member of the Klan took a photo with Senator Loeffler at a campaign event. Her campaign says she didn&#8217;t know who he was at the time, and she has condemned him.
I&#8217;m sure you have taken photos with thousands of strangers. Isn&#8217;t it important for candidates to tell the truth?
JON OSSOFF: It is. And it&#8217;s even more distressing that this isn&#8217;t an isolated incident. Kelly Loeffler has repeatedly posed for photographs and been seen campaigning alongside radical white supremacists.
And I believe they&#8217;re drawn to her campaign, because her campaign has consisted almost entirely of racist attacks on the Black Lives Matter movement and on the black church. And so the fact that these elements continue to be drawn to her, to support her, to campaign alongside her, to appear in photos next to her is deeply distressing. And it&#8217;s happening at the same time that Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue and Georgia Republicans are mounting a vicious assault on voting rights in Georgia, lawsuit after lawsuit to disenfranchise black voters, purge the rolls, remove ballot drop boxes.
And I believe that one of the reasons we&#8217;re seeing such record-shattering turnout in Georgia right now is that Georgians are defying those efforts to rip away their voting rights and standing up and saying, we&#8217;re going to make our voices heard.
TAPPER: All right. But, just to be clear, she was not campaigning with a Klansman. That wasn&#8217;t true, what you said.</blockquote>
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Even Jake Tapper said:
“Just to be clear, she was not campaigning with a klansman. That wasn&#39;t true, what you said.&quot;
Why won’t Twitter won’t flag <a href="https://twitter.com/ossoff?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ossoff</a>’s Tweet like they do to Republicans?
 <a href="https://t.co/wOFu4JcczQ">pic.twitter.com/wOFu4JcczQ</a> <a href="https://t.co/8uc3EpdYtk">https://t.co/8uc3EpdYtk</a>
&mdash; Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) <a href="https://twitter.com/bennyjohnson/status/1345816831240581120?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 3, 2021</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Get Out The Vote Rally With Jon Ossoff, Raphael Warnock, And Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris

CNN’s Jake Tapper Calls Out Democrat Jon Ossoff For Lying About Kelly Loeffler

Jake Tapper

<div class="css-1dbjc4n">
<div class="css-1dbjc4n r-156q2ks">
Republican Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, both facing runoff elections for their seats in Georgia next month, came out Tuesday in support of President Donald Trump&#8217;s efforts to raise coronavirus relief checks from $600 to $2,000.
Loeffler and Perdue&#8217;s seats are among particular importance since their potential runoff wins against Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff could maintain the Senate majority for the Republicans.
Though Trump signed a bipartisan package on Sunday night that included $600 relief checks, the president&#8217;s calls for more substantial relief promoted a bill that passed the House Monday night with two-thirds majority, including 44 Republicans, Mass Live <a href="https://www.masslive.com/coronavirus/2020/12/second-stimulus-checks-update-republican-georgia-sens-kelly-loeffler-and-david-perdue-support-2000-checks-as-they-look-to-retain-seats.html">reported</a>.
&#8220;$2000 for our great people, not $600!&#8221; Trump demanded Tuesday. &#8220;They have suffered enough from the China Virus!!!&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
$2000 for our great people, not $600! They have suffered enough from the China Virus!!!
&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1343916418316824583?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 29, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;I agree with [Donald Trump] — we need to deliver $2,000 direct relief checks to the American people,&#8221; Loeffler posted to Twitter, two hours after Trump&#8217;s tweet about the relief checks. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
I agree with <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@realDonaldTrump</a> — we need to deliver $2,000 direct relief checks to the American people.
&mdash; Kelly Loeffler (@KLoeffler) <a href="https://twitter.com/KLoeffler/status/1343948171018436614?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 29, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;President [Donald Trump] is right — I support this push for $2,000 in direct relief for the American people,&#8221; Perdue similarly posted.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
President <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@realdonaldtrump</a> is right — I support this push for $2,000 in direct relief for the American people. <a href="https://t.co/Al3USM7zPr">https://t.co/Al3USM7zPr</a>
&mdash; David Perdue (@DavidPerdueGA) <a href="https://twitter.com/DavidPerdueGA/status/1343943989804867585?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 29, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;In order for the $2,000 check measure to pass in the Senate, at least 12 Republicans would need to join all 48 members of the Democratic Caucus,&#8221; Mass Lives noted, adding that Republican Sens. Marco Rubio, Lindsey Graham, and Josh Hawley have, too, come out in support of $2,000 relief checks.
Last week, Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-trump-shreds-coronavirus-stimulus-bill-demands-congress-give-significantly-larger-checks">slammed</a> Congress over a coronavirus stimulus bill for its emphasis on foreign assistance and lack of direct aid to Americans.
“Throughout the summer, Democrats cruelly blocked COVID relief legislation in an effort to advance their extreme left-wing agenda and influence the election,” Trump said in an address last Tuesday, as reported by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-trump-shreds-coronavirus-stimulus-bill-demands-congress-give-significantly-larger-checks">The Daily Wire</a>. “Then, a few months ago, Congress started negotiations on a new package to get urgently needed help to the American people. It’s taken forever. However, the bill they are planning to send back to my desk is much different than anticipated.”
“For example, among the more than 5,000 pages in this bill, which nobody in Congress has read because of its length and complexity,” he said. “It’s called the COVID relief bill, but it has almost nothing to do with COVID.”
“This bill contains $85.5 million for assistance to Cambodia; $134 million to Burma; $1.3 billion for Egypt and the Egyptian Military which will go out and buy almost exclusively Russian Military equipment; $25 million for democracy and gender programs in Pakistan; $505 million to Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama; $40 million for the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., which is not even open for business; $1 billion for the Smithsonian; and an additional $154 million for the National Gallery of Art; $7 million for reef fish management; $25 million to combat Asian carp; $2.5 million to count the number of Amber Jack fish in the Gulf of Mexico, a provision to promote the breeding of fish in federal hatcheries; $3 million in poultry production technology; $2 million to research the impact of downed trees; $566 million for construction projects at the FBI,&#8221; Trump blasted. &#8220;The bill also allows stimulus checks for the family members of illegal aliens, allowing them to get up to $1,800 each. This is far more than the Americans are given.”
“Despite all of this wasteful spending and much more, the $900 billion package provides hard-working taxpayers with only $600 each in relief payments and not enough money is given to small businesses and in particular restaurants, whose owners have suffered so grievously,” the president continued. “Congress found plenty of money for foreign countries, lobbyists, and special interests while sending the bare minimum to the American people who need it. It wasn’t their fault, it was China’s fault, not their fault.”
“I’m asking Congress to amend this bill and increase the ridiculously low $600 to $2,000 or $4,000 for a couple,” Trump asserted. “I’m also asking Congress to immediately get rid of the wasteful and unnecessary items from this legislation and to send me a suitable bill or else the next administration will have to deliver a COVID relief package.”

President Trump Holds Rally In Georgia For Senate Candidates Loeffler And Perdue

Republicans Loeffler, Perdue Back Trump: $2,000 Coronavirus Relief Checks To Americans

Coronavirus Relief

The two Democratic Senate campaigns in Georgia are warning the national party that they&#8217;re quickly running out of funds and are unable to keep up with Republican spending ahead of that state&#8217;s January runoff elections.
NBC News obtained a memo Monday claiming that &#8220;outside GOP spending&#8221; has left them struggling to keep up and money isn&#8217;t flowing in from the national party fast enough to fight what they believe is an uphill battle to flip Georgia&#8217;s two Senate seats.
&#8220;Eight days out from Election Day in Georgia&#8217;s crucial Senate runoff races, Democratic candidates Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock are &#8216;sounding the alarm&#8217; about their ability to keep pace with GOP spending, calling for a &#8216;significant increase&#8217; in grassroots donations to prevent running out of money,&#8221; <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/ossoff-warnock-warn-about-running-low-funds-seek-last-minute-n1252413">NBC News reports</a>.
The two campaigns authored the memo jointly, according to the outlet, and it was signed by both Jon Ossoff&#8217;s and Raphael Warnock&#8217;s campaign managers.
&#8220;To win this election in 8 days, we need to continue our historic efforts to turn out every single voter — but we won&#8217;t be able to do that if our fundraising revenue continues to fall,&#8221; the pair said.
By all accounts, Ossoff and Warnock have outraised their incumbent Republican opponents, Sen. Kelly Loeffler and Sen. David Purdue, drawing significantly from a national Democratic effort to seal up the two Georgia Senate seats &#8212; an achievement that would give Democrats narrow control of the Senate, and giving Democrat Joe Biden the cooperation of both houses of Congress, which is necessary if he hopes to achieve any of his policy objectives.
In recent days, though, it seems national Democratic party leaders, like Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), have reportedly soured on the two Georgia races and are no longer willing to risk long-term donor relationships on two candidates who are not likely to win.
&#8220;Now, after the party performed poorly in down-ballot races, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is no longer meeting with donors,&#8221; NBC News says. &#8220;Schumer is &#8216;pessimistic&#8217; about Warnock and Ossoff&#8217;s chances in Georgia next week and doesn&#8217;t want to ruin donor relationships, the source adds.&#8221;
That&#8217;s news to Schumer, according to his spokesman.
&#8220;This is absolutely not true and this anonymous &#8216;source&#8217; has no idea what they’re talking about, and it&#8217;s really sad NBC published it. Schumer has diligently made calls and fundraised for both Georgia candidates and is optimistic about their chances in January,&#8221; he told NBC.
Polling site <a href="https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/georgia-senate-polls/">FiveThirtyEight has both races</a> in the &#8220;toss-up&#8221; category, with Purdue narrowly leading Ossoff and Warnock narrowly leading Loeffler. Neither leading candidate, though, has more than a two-point lead on his opponent, leaving both polls within the margin of error.
The <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2020/senate/ga/georgia_senate_runoff_election_perdue_vs_ossoff-7319.html">RealClearPolitics polling average</a> has Purdue in the lead by less than one point (he lead in the same race in 2014 by nearly 8 points). The outlet, though, <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2020/senate/ga/georgia_senate_special_election_runoff_loeffler_vs_warnock-7318.html">considers the Warnock/Loeffler matchup a &#8220;tie</a>.&#8221;

Reverend Warnock And Jon Ossoff Campaign For Georgia Runoff Senate Elections

Report: Georgia Dems Running Out Of Money For Senate Races

A field analysis report from the Department of Homeland Security warns of potential violence in Georgia as the two runoff elections for the U.S. Senate near on January 5.
The Georgia run-off elections feature the crucial contests between incumbent GOP senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler and their Democratic challengers, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock. If the GOP retains either one of the seats, the party will maintain control of the Senate; if not, the Democrats will control the Senate, House of Representatives, and the White House as there would be a 50-50 tie in the Senate and vice-president-elect Kamala Harris&#8217; vote would break the tie, thus giving president-elect Joe Biden a clear path to implement his agenda.
The report states:
<blockquote>We judge that Georgia faces a potentially heightened physical threat environment over the course of its U.S. Senate runoff election cycle, which may drive ideologically motivated violence or threats of violence similar to those seen nationwide during the 2020 presidential and state election season. We further judge that violent extremists or other actors could quickly mobilize to violence or generate violent disruptions or otherwise lawful protests in response to a range of issues, including possible disputes over the results of the U.S. presidential election.</blockquote>
The report cites several incidents in which threats of violence or actual violence occurred, mentioning “two separate July 2020 incidents, large groups of unidentified actors attacked state and law enforcement buildings” and July 25, 2020, when “approximately 100 people chanting ‘burn it down’ smashed windows and ignited fireworks embedded with nails in an attempt to set fire to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) building on downtown Atlanta” as well as a November 21 incident in which “members of groups with opposing ideological views engaged in assaults and physical altercations in front of the Georgia State Capitola in Atlanta.”
The report cited cyber attempts to infiltrate state networks, including late June 2020, when “unidentified malicious cyber threat actors, using a possible foreign-based IP address, unsuccessfully attempted to connect to a Georgia state network associated with election systems” along with an October 2020 successful attempt: “unknown malicious cyber threat actors successfully infected a Georgia county network” which “rendered a local copy of voter signature files saved on a county server and a geographic information  system map of county polling locations temporarily inaccessible for several days during early voting …”
The report continued, &#8220;We assess that foreign threat actors view the national significance of Georgia’s U.S. Senate runoff election as an opportunity to use social media and other influence tactics focused on the state.&#8221; The report mentions attempts by Iran and Russia media outlets to “amplify  … divisive narratives” regarding U.S. elections.
<a href="https://news.yahoo.com/government-report-warns-of-potential-violence-and-foreign-interference-during-georgia-senate-runoffs-191001382.html">Yahoo News</a> noted, “The agency based its judgments on a review of national and local media coverage, relevant social media postings, state law enforcement officials detailing ‘ideologically motivated violence or threats of violence’ and its other election violence assessments made over the past six months.&#8221;

Department of Homeland Security

Homeland Security Warns Of Possible Georgia Violence As Senate Runoff Election Nears

Violence

On Wednesday, the day after a video emerged of the former wife of Georgia Democratic senatorial candidate Raphael Warnock saying in March 2020 that she had kept his allegedly problematic private behavior “under wraps for a long time,” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, covering the Senate run-off race between Warnock and incumbent Georgia senator Kelly Loeffler, titled their side-by-side articles of the the two candidates like this:
<blockquote>“Untouched in first round, Warnock endures attacks.”
“Losing moderate image, Loeffler turns hard right.”</blockquote>
https://twitter.com/DavidRutz/status/1341722027833630721
The overt bias in the newspaper’s coverage elicited a strong response among conservatives, as they noted the implicit attack on Loeffler while the paper made Warnock look like a victim:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
&quot;Untouched in first round&quot; according to what? My gosh.
&mdash; Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) <a href="https://twitter.com/mattdizwhitlock/status/1341758987050643456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 23, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Republican Does Republican Stuff Democrat Endures Attacks <a href="https://t.co/PSgvdHvqXW">https://t.co/PSgvdHvqXW</a>
&mdash; jimtreacher.substack.com (@jtLOL) <a href="https://twitter.com/jtLOL/status/1341790880345321473?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 23, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
https://twitter.com/JJHunt10/status/1341755122033037312
https://twitter.com/LoganDobson/status/1341753424661127180
The paper&#8217;s coverage followed the emergence of a potentially damaging <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/a-great-actor-warnocks-wife-told-police-after-incident-that-she-kept-how-he-really-was-under-wraps-for-a-long-time">video</a> about Warnock. As <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/a-great-actor-warnocks-wife-told-police-after-incident-that-she-kept-how-he-really-was-under-wraps-for-a-long-time">The Daily Wire</a> reported on Tuesday:
<blockquote>Last March, Oulèye Ndoye Warnock, who had married current Democratic Georgia senatorial candidate Raphael Warnock in early 2016 and had two children with him before they separated in November 2019, accused Warnock of running over her foot with his car during a heated argument. Although Warnock <a href="https://www.ajc.com/news/local-govt--politics/warnock-wife-involved-dispute/MCQYpvtswlZIIGdItrfcBJ/">denied the incident</a> occurred and medical officials didn’t find any signs of injury in the foot, video has now emerged showing Oulèye Warnock telling police at the scene, “I’ve tried to keep the way that he acts under wraps for a long time and today he crossed the line.”</blockquote>
Oulèye Warnock asserted, “This man’s running for the United States Senate and all he cares about right now is his reputation. I work at the mayor’s office and this is a big problem. I’ve been trying to be very quiet about the way he is for the sake of my kids and his reputation … I’ve tried to keep the way that he acts under wraps for a long time and today he crossed the line. So that is what is going on here and he’s a great actor. He is phenomenal at putting on a really good show.”
The <a href="https://www.ajc.com/news/local-govt--politics/warnock-wife-involved-dispute/MCQYpvtswlZIIGdItrfcBJ/">Journal-Constitution</a> had reported in March on the claims by Oulèye Warnock:
<blockquote>According to the report, shortly after Warnock arrived at his wife’s home on Monday they began arguing about whether Raphael Warnock would allow his wife to apply for passports so that she could take their children to West Africa for her grandfather’s funeral. Warnock told police that he had previously denied the request and that he didn’t have time to talk about it again, according to the report.</blockquote>
<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/great-actor-warnocks-wife-domestic-dispute">Fox News</a> reported that after speaking with Warnock, the police officer interviewed Warnock’s wife, who confirmed she had been attempting to get Warnock’s signature for a passport. While crying, she told the officer, “He’s like, ‘Ouleye, close the door. I’m leaving.’ And I was like, ‘just hear me out. If your mom died, and I had the kids. Wouldn’t you want me to let them go with you to the funeral?’ And he just starts backing the car up. He wasn’t going fast; I’m not bleeding. But I just can’t believe he’d run me over.”
&nbsp;

Menu