Sen. John Kennedy: It’s All Hands on Deck for Senate Runoffs in Georgia

Sen. John Kennedy: It’s All Hands on Deck for Senate Runoffs in Georgia
Sens. David Perdue (R-Ga.) and Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) in file photographs. (Getty Images)
Masooma Haq
11/12/2020
Updated:
11/12/2020

Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said the state of Georgia is crucial for Republicans to hold onto because if Democrats gain control of the Senate, they will implement their radical socialist agenda.

“I can’t overstate the importance of Georgia,” Kennedy told Fox’s “America’s Newsroom” on Wednesday.

“You’ve got nothing to worry about if they get control of the United States Senate, unless you believe in more freedom as opposed to more free stuff. And that is what is at stake and it is all hands on deck. The American people get to decide: are we going to live in a democracy or socialism,” Kennedy said.

Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) in Washington. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images-File)
Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) in Washington. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images-File)

“If Speaker Pelosi and Sen. Schumer and Sen. Sanders and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez win in Georgia, you’ve got nothing to worry about unless you are a taxpayer, a business owner, a parent, a cop, a gun owner, a person of faith, or an unborn baby,” Kennedy said.

Republicans are projected to hold onto 50 seats but need 51 to keep their majority. “It’s going to be determined in Georgia,” Kennedy added.

Although Democrats lost seats in the House races, they are projected to still have a majority, so the Senate has become even more important for the Republicans.

Tom Perez, Democrat Party Chair, said despite the disappointing results for congressional Democrats after polls predicted a majority in the Senate and an expanded majority in the House, the party will now work to expand its electorate in Georgia and organize for more people to vote.

“Stacey Abrams has led that effort dating back to her race for governor in 2018,“ he said. ”You look at the number of first-time voters in Georgia in 2020, it’s a remarkable fusion coalition. We are organizing all over that state, making sure that people registered to vote and you can bet your bottom dollar that we will continue to do that.”

Former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams speaks during a conversation about criminal justice reform at the New York Public Library in New York City, on April 10, 2019. ( Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams speaks during a conversation about criminal justice reform at the New York Public Library in New York City, on April 10, 2019. ( Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

In the runoff elections, incumbent Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) is running against Democrat candidate Raphael Warnock and incumbent Sen. David Perdue is (R-Ga.) is running against Democrat candidate Jon Ossoff.

If Democrats win both senate races in Georgia, there will be a tie of 50-50, which would then make the winner of the presidential election the tiebreaker; either Vice President Mike Pence or Vice Presidential-hopeful Kamala Harris.

The winner of the presidential election has yet to be made official given unresolved legal challenges. Kennedy said he supports President Donald Trump’s Constitutional right to prosecute claims of voter irregularities because millions of people think the election was rigged.

The nation’s attention is now also fixed on Georgia. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told a rally on Nov. 7, “Now we take Georgia, then we change the world.”

Prominent Democrats have called on supporters to move to Georgia to help campaign. Andrew Yang said on Nov. 6, “get ready to head to Georgia” to “give Joe [Biden] a unified government.” He added that there isn’t much time until the Dec. 7 registration deadline.

Others went one step further, drawing criticism over the legality of such actions. New York Times columnist Tom Friedman told CNN that he wants to see “everybody” to move to Georgia in the next month or two, and for them to register to vote “for these two Democratic senators.”

Another self-described Democratic activist last week called on “Northern Democrats” to move to Georgia and vote before spending the winter in the state.

State Rep. Vernon Jones, a Democrat who expressed his support for President Donald Trump, called on Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, to investigate such calls for voters to move, saying that it would “undermine the integrity of our election.”
“Out of state liberals are planning to flood the state of Georgia in order to undermine the integrity of our election and vote in our upcoming Senate runoffs. This practice should be made ILLEGAL and I’m calling on @GovKemp to call a special session to make it so,” he wrote on Twitter.
Jack Phillips contributed to this report.
Masooma Haq began reporting for The Epoch Times from Pakistan in 2008. She currently covers a variety of topics including U.S. government, culture, and entertainment.
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