MILTON, Georgia (AP) – On Monday, Georgia-elected Vice President Kamala Harris campaigned for the need to select candidates for the Democratic US Senate who will advance President-elect Joe Biden’s agenda. Ivanka Trump, meanwhile, warned that failing to re-elect the two Republican incumbents in next month’s pivotal run-off could erode her father’s legislative performance.
A crowd in Columbus report that “everything is at stake” in the January 5 gamesHarris said Democratic candidates Jon Ossoff and Reverend Raphael Warnock would advance Biden’s policy priorities such as increased funding for schools in low-income districts, a $ 15,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers, and police reforms.
“We need the legislation to pass,” said Harris. “We need Jon and Raphael in the United States Senate. These are the things that are at stake. “
Harris’ other scheduled stop was canceled due to a scheduled Senate vote on a coronavirus relief package.
Ahead of Harris, Ossoff warned that Republicans would block the Biden administration’s agenda if they retained Senate control, hinder a progressive platform to raise the minimum wage, expand access to healthcare, and invest in infrastructure.
“We have too much good work to do, Columbus, to be stuck in a deadlock and obstruction,” he said.
Trump, the daughter of President Donald Trump and a senior White House adviser, was stunned Monday with the Republican American Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler in front of a pub in Milton, a wealthy suburb about 30 miles north of Atlanta.
About the audience’s cries of “We love Trump!” and “Fight for Trump!” she pleaded with voters to send Republicans back to the Senate “to protect everything America stands for”. She called the runoff the “most important congressional race in history” and described Perdue and Loeffler as the “last line of defense” against the Democratic agenda and for her father in Congress.
“We need David and Kelly in the Senate to keep our economy running, to keep executing the president’s plans and to keep our schools open,” she said, cheering from the audience.
As she spoke, praising her father’s record of unemployment and work on a COVID-19 vaccine, a truck with a huge ‘Trump 2020’ sign circled the street, drawing in audience to take videos and selfies.
Monday’s performances were part of a series of pre-run-off visits by high-profile surrogates of the outgoing president and president-elect. Biden himself has already stumbled in Georgia and Vice President Mike Pence has made several visits. President Donald Trump said late Saturday that he would return January 4 for an election night rally, just two days before Congress meets to count the votes of the electoral college.
Trump has refused to accept the results of his own election loss, claiming with no evidence a conspiracy to throw the election at Biden. In a tweet announcing his plans in Georgia, Trump continued to express his anger at the Republican government Brian Kemp and GOP Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger for certifying Biden’s victory over him by more than 11,000 votes.
Both Perdue and Loeffler have avoided explicit public recognition of Biden’s victory while attacking Raffensperger.
Ahead of Ivanka Trump’s comments, Perdue, fighting Ossoff, reiterated his admonition to Georgians that “the eyes of the world are now on us.” Loeffler, challenged by Warnock, echoed her campaign’s claim that the pastor is a radical and socialist. ‘If we don’t vote, we won’t lose; we will lose the land, ”she said.
Warnock pushed back on his adversary’s repeated digs, which he said hampered his attempts at “a substantive debate about the people of Georgia.”
“My opponent is trying to reduce this race to the kind of empty schoolyard insults between kids who don’t think well in a playground,” he said. ‘I’m trying to have a debate and she’s swearing. That is all right. As we say in the South, “Bless her heart.” ”
___
Thanawala reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writer Meg Kinnard in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed to this report.