President Donald Trump will hold a rally in Georgia on Monday on behalf of Sens. David Perdue (R-Ga.) and Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) ahead of the crucial Senate runoffs set to determine control of the upper chamber.
“On behalf of two GREAT Senators, @sendavidperdue & @KLoeffler, I will be going to Georgia on Monday night, January 4th., to have a big and wonderful RALLY. So important for our Country that they win!” Trump wrote in a tweet.
The Republican National Committee (RNC) announced it will host the “Victory Rally” in Dalton, Georgia, at 7 p.m. on Jan. 4, with speakers including Perdue and Loeffler.
Trump held an earlier rally in Valdosta, Georgia, on Dec. 5, during which the president called the upcoming runoffs, which pit Perdue and Loeffler against Democratic candidates Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, “the most important congressional runoff, probably in American history.”
The Jan. 5 runoffs are key for both parties, with control of the upper chamber hanging in the balance. Republicans currently hold 50 seats in the Senate, meaning Democrats need to win both runoffs and also prevail in the contested presidential election to gain control of the White House and both chambers of Congress.
Sens. David Perdue (R-Ga.) and Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) in file photographs. (Getty Images)
“At stake in this election is control of the U.S. Senate and that really means control of this country,” Trump said at the Dec. 5 rally. “The voters of Georgia will determine which party runs every committee, writes every piece of legislation, controls every single taxpayer dollar.”
“Very simply, you will decide whether your children will grow up in a socialist country or whether they will grow up in a free country,” Trump continued. “And I will tell you this, socialist is just the beginning for these people. These people want to go further than socialism. They want to go into a communistic form of government. I have no doubt about it.”
Democrats hope to turn the Senate blue in the runoffs, with Ossoff and Warnock together raising over $210 million in two months for their bids to unseat the two Republican incumbents, who have raised a total of around $132 million, according to fundraising figures cited by The Wall Street Journal.
Republican voter George Peterson told The Associated Press he and his wife plan to back the GOP incumbents.
“We would like to see a balance of power between the three branches and we are not completely comfortable with the agenda of the left wing,” Peterson said. “We’re that mythical middle you’re looking for,” adding that the Democratic Party would need to make “dramatic” changes on issues for him to consider supporting its candidates.
Through Friday, over 2 million people in Georgia had already cast early ballots, according to the U.S. Elections Project, with early-voting figures pointing to a potentially record turnout for the runoff.
