PERRY, Ga. – The Republican Senate candidates in Georgia are spending tens of millions of dollars on an almost entirely negative advertising campaign and a strategy of upgrading the Conservative base in hopes of generating enough turnout to win two critical runoffs, the will decide control of the Senate.
Despite the loss of President Trump, incumbent Republican senators are not trying to extend their appeal to a cross-section of voters. The early days of the runoff elections are similar to the previous months. Republican Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue filled the waves of air with devastating attacks.
While the Democratic candidates, Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, have emerged as pragmatists in the form of Mr Biden and refused to endorse proposals like single-payer health care or the expansion of the Supreme Court, Republicans have tried to use them as a those radicals who spoke out against the fundamental principles of the country and warned that democratic rule over the Senate would usher in a wave of socialism.
The two Republican senators haven’t run a single positive advertisement between them, and neither have any two outside groups they support, according to ad tracking firm Advertising Analytics. The breathless publicity campaigns and demonization of the Liberals reflect the efforts of the Republican Party and its constituents as they attempt to deny the Democrats total control of the White House and Congress.
Mr. Perdue said at a rally in Perry, Georgia last week that his Democratic opponent, Mr. Ossoff, was a “trust fund socialist who lives on family money and makes documentaries no one has ever seen.”
And even when he recognized the dark tenor of the breed, he portrayed himself as a victim of negativity rather than a participant.
“I’m not sure if my mother was still alive today, that with all this negative advertising she would even vote for me,” he joked.
At the rally, which featured both candidates alongside Senator Tom Cotton from Arkansas, Ms. Loeffler said Democratic victories “literally tear the fabric of what makes our country the greatest in the world.”
The runoff elections to the Senate on January 5 will decide whether President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. will begin his government with a unified or a split Congress.
If the two Democrats win and reach a 50:50 split in the Senate, Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris could cut ties and the Democrats have far more political options on the table. If Mr Perdue or Mrs Loeffler prevail, the Republicans could obstruct important laws.
But it is the way the candidates run that has drawn the attention of voters and political strategists, with an avalanche of political publicity falling on the state. The $ 231 million that has flowed into television advertising in roughly a two-month runoff election so far has exceeded spending on all of the primary and general Senate elections combined.
There is no escape to the center, despite the fact that Georgia has voted for a democratic presidential candidate for the first time in decades and has proven itself to be a true battlefield state. Republicans, who are the favorites in the two races, repeat most parts of Mr. Trump’s message without having him on the ballot. Democrats are trying to build on Biden’s message of unity and his voting formula: a multiracial coalition powered by the urban and suburban areas of the state.
The lack of audience transition indicates a decline in the number of convincing independents in times of polarization, particularly in runoff elections, which tend to attract the most engaged voters.
At campaign events and debates, as well as at Airwaves with currently more than 27 different advertisements, candidates try to motivate their own bases instead of worrying about swing voters. Both parties put the House on voter turnout, not on persuasion.
Ms. Loeffler placed almost exclusively negative ads against her opponent, Mr. Warnock, accusing him of being “anti-police” and “radical”. The few ads she has aired that highlight her record start with a warning: “Don’t believe the liberal lies.” Mr. Warnock has not run purely negative ads and prefers less caustic, contrasting ads like those comparing his health records to theirs, and he’s created positive ads about his life story and platform.
Mr Perdue has also fueled the negative environment. Up until that point, his campaign had shown 100 percent negative ads, including those saying that Mr. Ossoff wanted to make “terrible changes”.
Mr Perdue rejected the debate on Mr Ossoff during the trickle run. Speaking at the rally, Mr Perdue said that Republican voters should not focus on politics in this election, an explicit admission that his intervention was aimed solely at members of his own party. He led Mr. Ossoff in the first round of elections in November and is betting that a similar coalition will succeed in the runoff election.
“You don’t have to worry about the problems – you already have,” he said. “We’ve already negotiated this with these other people. What you need to do now is simply pray to God that we will cast our vote. “
The plea indicated that even in purple states, moderate politicians – particularly right-wing – are a dying race. On key President’s battlefields, including Georgia, Republican candidates have clung to Mr Trump, betting their futures on his ability to recruit new Conservative voters in rural, mostly white, areas rather than recapturing the suburban moderates he has temporarily struck off.
The Perdue campaign and the Senate Leadership Fund, a super-PAC affiliated with Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, have merged more than $ 3 million in attack reports in the past week alone. In an ad from the Senate Leadership Fund, Ossoff is committed to being both a progressive Democrat and a big business.
Phil Hall, a 67-year-old retiree who attended the rally, said he appreciated the Republicans’ willingness to point out that he believed the Democrats “are on the path to socialism and global elitism.”
Mr. Hall loved that Ms. Loeffler and Mr. Perdue had urged Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, to resign because Mr. Hall does not believe that Mr. Biden won the state this month.
“Mark my words: there are some handkerchiefs,” said Mr. Hall, repeating unsubstantiated allegations of election fraud.
While Mr. Warnock and Mr. Ossoff have tried to put themselves above the fight, they are a far cry from the Republican figures their party once nominated in Georgia. As the state’s demographic shifts, Democrats have become increasingly hopeful that they can win statewide elections by forming a coalition of Atlanta suburbs, people of color, including the youngest immigrants, and young voters of all races.
On the same day that Republicans gathered in Perry, the Democrats hosted a voting event in the fast-changing suburbs of Atlanta.
The democratic state representative Miriam Paris read a statement at the event, in which the political focus of the party became clear.
“We need Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock in the Senate to bring Covid-19 under control, create real economic relief for small businesses and working families, and protect the 1.8 million Georgians in pre-existing conditions,” she said .
The Democratic challengers agree with their rivals that their election would signal a change in Washington, but they argue that it would be good for the Georgians.
“Change has come to Georgia and change is coming to America,” Ossoff said at the Democratic rally Thursday in Jonesboro, south of Atlanta.
Indeed, the races in Georgia offer a window into the future of both parties. Democrats are trying to maintain their coalition of urban voters and suburbanites to fend off allegations by Republicans that the party has become too progressive. The Republican Party is at war with itself, fueled by Mr Trump’s refusal to accept his loss of the election.
The campaign by Ms. Loeffler, one of the wealthiest members of Congress, is a powerful example of the changing politics of the country. Formerly thought of as a business-minded Republican, she has transformed into a Mr. Trump-style culture warrior.
When she competes against Mr. Warnock, the pastor of the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, trying to become the state’s first black Senator, her strategy stood out for her racial and policing tone.
A Loeffler ad shows a classroom with mostly white students reciting the promise of loyalty as narrators: “This is America. But will it still be that way when the radical left controls the Senate? “
Another ad features a now famous clip of Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., who was pastor of former President Barack Obama and delivered a sermon on the nation’s past oppression of racial minorities, in which the phrase “God damn America ”was included.
In the past, Mr. Warnock has suggested that the sermon be in accordance with the “black church truth-clarifying tradition.” Ms. Loeffler’s ad said Mr. Warnock “celebrated anti-American hatred”.
She also mentioned Mr. Wright during her speech at the rally. Within 45 seconds, Mrs. Loeffler tied Mr. Warnock to Mr. Wright; Fidel Castro; Stacey Abrams; George Soros; Senator Chuck Schumer; and Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – a baddie hit for conservatives.
“You can get on the cocktail party racetrack if you follow the line,” said Ms. Loeffler. “If you’re a liberal, you can be very popular in Washington. I have no interest in being popular in Washington. I just care about Georgia. “
Above the runoffs loom the relentless attempts by Mr Trump and other Republicans to carry out unsubstantiated claims of election fraud and undermine confidence in the electoral system. Conservatives have targeted anyone who recognizes the loss of Mr Trump in Georgia, including Secretary of State Raffensperger.
Dave Adcock, a 70-year-old Republican at the Perry event, said the only way he could trust the Senate race results was if Mr. Raffensperger resigned and referred to him as a RINO, or a Republican just in his name, who had “botched” this whole damn thing. “
A moment later he lamented the deterioration in political discourse.
“Over the years, I hate being insulted,” said Mr Adcock.
Astead W. Herndon reported from Perry, Georgia, and Nick Corasaniti from New York.
Comments are closed.