Loeffler says leaked Trump call on Georgia election won’t hurt chances in Senate race
Hours before a rally with President Donald Trump in northwest Georgia, Sen. Kelly Loeffler told supporters gathered at the Columbus Airport Monday that the president’s insistence he was scammed out of victory during Georgia’s presidential contest would not hurt her reelection bid.
Loeffler’s comments come one day after the Washington Post released audio from a conference call between Trump and his representatives to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and members of his office over November’s election results. Trump continued to claim he won the state and expressed concern that Republican voters would not turn out for Loeffler or U.S. Sen. David Perdue.
Georgia election officials have continually debunked claims that Trump won the state or that widespread voting fraud occurred.
“I think it’s fantastic the president will be in Georgia tonight,” Loeffler said. “...He’s getting out the message that Georgians need to turn out and vote for David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler.
“Georgians have come out to vote,” she added. “We already have three million early votes (statewide) right now.”
Loeffler appeared in Columbus alongside former Georgia Gov. and current USDA secretary Sonny Perdue as well as former counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway. Sen. David Perdue was quarantining following a COVID-19 exposure and did not appear in person, but he did speak to audience members on speakerphone.
Loeffler offered no direct response or comment to the claims Trump made on the hour-long phone call about November’s election results. The senator took four questions from reporters in Columbus, three of which were focused on the call or the president’s upcoming appearance.
“Our total focus is on Tuesday, January 5th because the future of the country is on the ballot. We are the firewall to socialism in Georgia,” she said.
On the call, Trump again repeated claims that voter fraud in Georgia cost him the state. He pleaded with Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes” — one more than President-elect Joe Biden’s margin of victory in the state. Raffensperger and members of his office pushed back against Trump’s claims.
“You know, the people of Georgia know that this was a scam,” Trump said on the call. “And because of what you’ve done to the president, a lot of people aren’t going out to vote and a lot of Republicans are going to vote negative because they hate what you did to the president. Okay? They hate it.”
Early in-person voting ended Jan. 1. As of Jan. 4, 3,041,581 people have voted early, according to Georgia Votes, a vote tracking website. In-person voting for the runoff elections takes place Jan. 5.
This story was originally published January 4, 2021 at 1:28 PM.