Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) refused to acknowledge Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden as president-elect during a debate with her Democratic challenger Raphael Warnock, ahead of Georgia’s upcoming runoff election in January.
Loeffler on Sunday asserted that President Donald Trump “has every right to every legal recourse” amid contested election results and unresolved legal challenges.
“It’s vitally important that Georgians trust our elections process and the president has every right to every legal recourse and that’s what’s taking place,” she said, as claims of voter fraud in the Nov. 3 election dominated the debate between the pair.
Should Democrats take the seats in the Jan. 5 runoff elections, they would have a 50-50 tie in the Senate, which would then make the tiebreaker either Vice President Mike Pence or vice presidential nominee Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) following the result of the general election.
Loeffler faces Warnock in the first race, while incumbent GOP Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) faces Democrat rival Jon Ossoff in the second.
Warnock, meanwhile, accused Loeffler of “casting doubt” on the legitimacy of Biden’s election win.
Loeffler, who last month said that “everything’s on the line” in the state’s upcoming runoff election, refused to directly state whether she supports Trump’s claims that he won the 2020 election, but instead said that the president has the right to see all legal processes play out.
A number of states and news outlets have declared Biden the winner of the 2020 presidential election. The Epoch Times won’t declare a winner until all results are certified and any legal challenges are resolved.
While media outlets can make their own projections as to the winner of the election, state electors and the Electoral College are the bodies that are officially tasked with declaring a presidential winner. Each state has different deadlines for when officials must certify their election results, and the Electoral College votes on Dec. 14. The Joint Session of Congress will then read the votes on Jan. 6, 2021, which can be challenged. The president-elect is then sworn in on Jan. 20.
Loeffler told Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom,” on Nov. 18 that a GOP-controlled Senate would be a “firewall against socialism,” warning that her Democratic opponents will try to impose their will if elected.
She argued that if Democrats take the seats, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) would pack the court and “implement a dramatic tax increase,” referring to Schumer’s remarks last week that Democrats would take Georgia and “change America.”
“Well, obviously everything’s on the line. We’re the firewall against socialism in this country,” Loeffler told the news channel.
Almost 1 million mail-in ballots have already been requested for the two runoff races, an elections official announced Dec. 2. The deadline for voter registration is Dec. 7.
From The Epoch Times
