'Republicans may lose because of what the president is doing': GOP pollster Frank Luntz says Trump's attempts to undo election results could cost Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue their seats in Georgia runoff
President Trump is jeopardizing the Republican Party’s chances of keeping both Senate seats from Georgia by trying to overturn the election results, a top GOP-aligned pollster claims.
Frank Luntz said that it is possible incumbent Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue could lose their January 5 runoff elections because Trump’s calling into question the integrity of the vote could depress GOP turnout.
Loeffler and Perdue are running against Democratic challengers Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, respectively.
The two races are critical to the Republicans keeping their Senate majority. If they both lose, Democrats would have 50 Senate seats with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris serving as a tie-breaking vote.
Georgia's two runoff races kicked off in November after Perdue and Loeffler failed to get more than 50 percent of the vote on Election Day. Early voting has already started for the January 5 election.
President Trump is jeopardizing the Republican Party’s chances of keeping both Senate seats from Georgia by trying to overturn the election results, Frank Luntz , a top GOP-aligned pollster, claims
Luntz said that it is possible incumbent Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue could lose their January 5 runoff elections because Trump’s calling into question the integrity of the vote could depress GOP turnout. Loeffler and Perdue are seen above alongside the president's daughter, Ivanka Trump , at a rally in Milton, Georgia, on Monday
Trump on Sunday evening tweeted that he plans to travel to Georgia to appear at an election rally on behalf of the two GOP incumbents
Trump on Sunday evening tweeted that he plans to travel to Georgia to appear at an election rally on behalf of the two GOP incumbents.
'On behalf of two GREAT Senators, I will be going to Georgia on Monday night, January 4th., to have a big and wonderful RALLY,' the president tweeted on Sunday.
'So important for our Country that they win!'
According to Luntz, however, it could be too little, too late given the president's public campaign that has sowed doubts about the integrity of the vote in the minds of tens of million of his supporters nationwide.
‘I’m afraid and I believe that those two Republicans may well lose on the fifth of January because of what the president is doing right now,’ Luntz told host Howard Kurtz of the Fox News program Media Buzz on Sunday.
Loeffler and Perdue are running against Democratic challengers Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff , respectively
‘The media is helping him and this should not be happening, that that election should be waged separately from the ugliness that’s happening here in Washington.’
Since losing the election to President-elect Joe Biden on November 3, Trump has insisted that he in fact is the real winner due to widespread voter fraud in key swing states.
The president and his allies have filed scores of lawsuits in state and federal court alleging voting irregularities, though judges, including those appointed by Trump, ruled those claims had no merit.
Republicans in Congress initially stated their support for Trump’s legal challenges to the election, though more have gradually begun to accept Biden’s victory.
After the Electoral College officially voted for Biden as the winner earlier this month, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell gave a speech recognizing the president-elect.
Trump was infuriated by McConnell’s remarks as well as those by the second most senior Republican in the Senate, John Thune of South Dakota.
Attorney Lin Wood, pictured, has suggested Georgia's GOP senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue as well as Governor Brian Kemp should be arrested while also urging Republicans not to vote in the state's run-off
Wood tweeted on Christmas Day, sharing the poster which suggested 'boycotting' the vote to 'break' it and writing: 'I just want an HONEST election. Don't you?'
Wood, a staunch ally of President Donald Trump, tweeted this poster
Perdue, left, is taking on Democrat Jon Ossoff; Loeffler, right, is facing Raphael Warnock. The two races will determine which party controls the Senate — and likely how ambitious President-elect Joe Biden can be with his agenda
When asked about efforts by Congressional Republicans to challenge the election results next week, Thune said that it would ‘go down like a shot dog’ in the Senate.
Thune said last week that efforts led by House Rep. Mo Brooks, a Republican from Alabama, to challenge the Electoral College vote are ‘not going anywhere.’
‘I mean, in the Senate, it would ... go down like a shot dog,’ Thune told reporters.
‘I just don't think it makes a lot of sense to put everybody through this when you know what the ultimate outcome is going to be.’
The president has taken to Twitter in recent days, lashing out at McConnell, Thune, and other senior Republican senators for not backing his efforts to undo the election results.
Trump has also huddled with advisers, including former National Security Adviser Mike Flynn, who reportedly recommended declaring martial law and having the military redo the election in key swing states.
Luntz told Fox News that ‘it feels like this president’s trying to do as much damage as he can, not just to Mitch McConnell, but the Republicans in the House and the Senate, and the press is glad to go along because it will help in the final race of 2020 in Georgia.’
Meanwhile, another Trump ally who has filed lawsuits in court challenging the election results is calling for the arrest of Loeffler, Perdue, and another Republican, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp.
Attorney Lin Wood said the three should be arrested for election fraud while also urging Republicans not to vote in the state's run-off.
Wood also suggested that Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, pictured, should be arrested
Wood, who has represented Kenosha shooter Kyle Rittenhouse, has continued to spread baseless claims of election fraud to his followers since Trump's loss in November. He has wrongly suggested that Dominion Voting Systems were rigged. He is pictured with Sidney Powell during a press conference on election results in Alpharetta, Georgia on December 2
Wood tweeted a poster which read: 'The Georgia election fraud committed by anti-Trump RINOs Brian Kemp, Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue against President Trump and Doug Collins was accomplished using the Dominion Voting Systems Algorithm.
'The algorithm was never designed for unheard-of levels of GOP non-participation. The algorithm will steal votes from the GOP, but there will be so few in heavily Democratic precincts that GOP vote totals will go negative.'
'The fraud will be so obvious, SCOTUS can then invalidate the presidential election. Real conservative senators can then be appointed, after Kemp, Perdue and Loeffler's arrest,' the poster adds.
Wood tweeted on Christmas Day, sharing the poster which suggested 'boycotting' the vote to 'break' it.
He wrote: 'I have received much criticism for demanding that GA fix the 11/3 fraud before we vote in 1/5 runoff. In full disclosure, I am not a fan of any of the 4 candidates in Senate runoff. Communists or China compromised in my opinion.
'I just want an HONEST election. Don't you?'
Wood, who has represented Kenosha shooter Kyle Rittenhouse, has continued to spread baseless claims of election fraud to his followers since Trump's loss in November.
He has wrongly suggested that Dominion Voting Systems were rigged.