Perdue Says GOP Control of Senate 'Last Line of Defense' Against Radical Left Agenda

Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) speaks at a campaign event to supporters at a restaurant in Cumming, Ga., on Nov. 13, 2020. (Megan Varner/Getty Images)

Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.), in an interview on Fox News Thursday, urged people to vote Republican in the Georgia Senate runoffs in January, arguing that a GOP majority in the upper chamber is the "last line of defense" against a radical, leftist agenda.

His remarks, made on "The Ingraham Angle," came after attorneys Lin Wood and Sidney Powell, who are behind a number of lawsuits alleging fraud in battleground states, including Georgia, seemed to call for Republican voters to boycott the runoff, which pits Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) against Democrat Raphael Warnock, and Perdue against Democrat Jon Ossoff.

“This is illogical for any Republican to think that, ‘Oh, I’m just going to sit down and not vote,’” Perdue said in the interview. “We know what’s at stake. This is the last line of defense against their radical-liberal agenda that once they do this, we won’t get it back."

Wood and Powell's remarks drew rebuke from a number of Republicans, while Trump campaign spokesperson Matt Wolking, in a tweet, urged Republicans to vote for Loeffler and Perdue: “They’ve fought with President Trump against the radical left, and we need them in the Senate to keep fighting!”

President Donald Trump is scheduled to travel to Georgia on Saturday to campaign on behalf of the two Republican senators, who are fighting to keep their Senate seats after failing to get a majority of votes in the Nov. 3 election. Republicans currently hold a 50-seat majority in the Senate, but if Democrats win both runoffs and also prevail in the contested presidential election, they'll have control of the White House as well as both chambers of Congress.

"Will be going to Georgia for a big Trump Rally in support of our two great Republican Senators, David and Kelly. They are fantastic people who love their Country and love their State. We must work hard and be sure they win," Trump said in a tweet.

Sens. David Perdue (R-Ga.) and Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) in file photographs. (Getty Images)

The importance of the runoff has been highlighted by a number of Republican strategists, with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) telling Breitbart News in a Monday interview that the outcome is key to resisting what he called a radical leftist agenda that threatens America’s future.

“The future of the United States depends on the outcome of the Georgia Senate races,” Gingrich said. “If you don’t want a radical left-wing America dominated by left-wing judges with massive tax increases, with a policy, frankly, of appeasing China, and you don’t want that kind of future, you have to go out and vote.”

In an emailed statement this week, Loeffler campaign spokesman Stephen Lawson told The Epoch Times, “Every Republican in this state knows the stakes of this race because it will decide the future of our country, and that’s why everyone is getting to the polls to vote for Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue.”

Perdue's remarks on "The Ingraham Angle" echo the position he expressed in a video meeting recorded Wednesday with members of the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC), when he said, “If we can keep the majority in the Senate, we can at least be a buffer on some of the things that the Biden camp has been talking about in terms of their foreign policy.”

Trump's legal team and Republican allies have launched a flurry of contest-of-election legal challenges in battleground states, and while many media outlets have called the race for Democrat Joe Biden, The Epoch Times is opting to wait until all cases are settled before declaring victory for either candidate.

Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.