Senator Kelly Loeffler at the Park Place Restaurant
photo by Dennis Norwood
Georgia Senator Kelly Loeffler made her second campaign appearance in less than a month in the Northwest Georgia on Tuesday afternoon. The Republican candidate spoke to around 100 supporters gathered at the Park Place Restaurant in Fort Oglethorpe.
During her visit it was evident she was focused on the task at hand, deftly side-stepping several questions about the results of the Electoral College and the recent news events swirling around Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell of California and his ties to Chinese espionage.
Senator Loeffler, the state’s junior senator, was appointed to her current position by Georgia governor Brian Kemp to complete the term of Johnny Isakson, who had to leave office early due to health concerns. She and the state’s other Republican senator, David Perdue, are both locked into close run-off campaigns with two Democratic newcomers, Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff.
The outcome of the two races will determine the balance of power in the Senate and could be the linchpin President-Elect Joe Biden needs to push his administration’s agenda.
During her remarks, Senator Loeffler was quick to point out the differences between herself and challenger Warnock, saying, “We are the firewall to stopping socialism in America. We are the battleground for the country.”
She continued, “Chuck Schumer told us, and this is the one time you should listen to Schumer. He told us, we are going to take Georgia and change America. He didn’t say we’re going to take Georgia and control the Senate. He meant we’re going to change America. He’s going to raise your taxes right off the bat.”
Senator Loeffler also told those gathered that, with control of the Senate, the Democrats would implement the Green New Deal, socialized health care, "turning your doctor’s office into the DMV, opening the border, defund the police and a bunch of other insane ideas."
She intimated that her opponent would be "a party to shredding the fabric of our country, taking apart the freedoms that others have fought for."
The Republican said, “My opponent in my race, radical liberal Raphael Warnock, is the most radical candidate that has ever run for the Senate in our country. You don’t have to take my word for it, you can hear him in his own words and he has refused to apologize for it. He has said you can’t serve God and the military.
“That’s just wrong. I’m the daughter and granddaughter of veterans. I know that’s wrong, I serve on our veterans’ affairs committee.” At that point she recognized all the veterans in the audience and led the group in a loud round of applause.
She then referred to a recent debate she had with Rev. Warnock and said she had asked him to denounce Marxism and said he had refused to do it. She said, "He (Warnock) had mentioned Marxism over 100 times in a book he had written and he has used the Bible to justify Socialism. That’s not just wrong for Georgia. That’s wrong for America.”
She said, “You have to understand who (Warnock) is. He would be a rubber stamp for Schumer.”
The candidate also talked about how the Democratic leadership was pouring millions of dollars into the two Georgia Senate run-off elections.
She said she and Senator Perdue were fighting to bring pandemic relief, in the form of Cares Act dollars, to Georgia. However, she said that Nancy Pelosi "had recently admitted that she was not going to pass any relief under President Trump."
Senator Loeffler went on to say, “We need better health care. My opponent would double down on Obamacare that has led to the loss of health care for 130,000 Georgians. It’s too expensive. Deductibles are up, premiums are up. He wants to double down on it. I say we need to make it more affordable while protecting pre-existing conditions because if you can’t afford insurance that doesn’t protect your pre-existing conditions.”
She told those gathered that school choice needs to be protected and that she attended public schools herself and was the first person in her family to graduate from college.
The candidate said she and Senator Perdue were "fighting every day for conservative values that under attack. You see it every single day. You know, fighting for innocent lives, standing up to the left’s radical abortion-on-demand agenda. We need folks like me in Washington that are going to continue to fight for that every day.”
Senator Loeffler went on to say, “To stand up for our Second Amendment rights.” She spoke further about the need to stop taxation and confiscation of firearms and ammunition.
She ended her talk by encouraging those present to "make sure that you, and your friends, get to the polls to use your voice" to send her and Senator Perdue back to Washington. She promised if they did so, "they would be the voice of Georgians for years to come."