Georgia Election Integrity Reforms Are Driving Runoff Turnout, Not Suppressing It
The election integrity movement is about increasing voter turnout by increasing voters’ confidence in our electoral system.The election integrity movement is about increasing voter turnout by increasing voters’ confidence in our electoral system.
Leftist Stacey Abrams rips Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger as 'not defending the right of voters'
It appears that leftist Stacey Abrams is tough to please — even if you're the apparent new darling of the Democrats.
You see, Georgia's Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger defended the results of his state's presidential election in favor of Democrat Joe Biden — and just days ago said he was glad a controversial phone recording between him and President Donald Trump surfaced, as Raffensperger said Trump misrepresented him.
"Brad Raffensperger: he's not some liberal. Like he's no hero of mine," Democratic strategist Hillary Rosen told CNN, according to Reuters. "He is a solid conservative Republican standing up to the president. That's what makes it so significant."
But Abrams — who lost her Georgia gubernatorial bid in 2016 and has been working hard to get out the vote in the state's runoff election Tuesday as the Democrats try to tip the balance of the U.S. Senate — is still no fan of Raffensperger.
What are the details?
"Lionizing Brad Raffensperger's a bit wrong-headed," she told late-night TV host Stephen Colbert on Monday. "This man is not defending the right of voters. He's defending an election that he ran."
Abrams — who was scolded by a Democratic representative earlier this year for actively campaigning to be Biden's vice presidential pick — blasted Raffensperger for his desire to place restrictions on who can vote via absentee ballot in future Georgia elections. She added that he is "not" any sort of "voting rights champion."
"But even a broken clock is right twice a day," Abrams added, "and it's a good thing that he's defending this election ..."
Anything else?
It's worth noting that Raffensperger is investigating Abrams' group — New Georgia Project — for "repeatedly and aggressively" seeking to register "ineligible, out-of-state, or deceased voters" ahead of Tuesday's runoff.
Raffensperger said early last month that "we've had additional information coming in regarding the tactics from these groups including the New Georgia Project sending five voter registrations to the same dead person, and sending applications to ineligible voters." He also said his family received mailers directed to his deceased son, urging him to register to vote.
Oh, and a federal judge — who happens to be Abrams' sister — last week ordered two Georgia counties to reverse course on removing thousands of individuals from voter rolls ahead of Tuesday's runoff election.
Marco Rubio warns that Raphael Warnock is 'unabashed Marxist sympathizer who would destroy the American Dream'
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) delivered a warning to Georgians about Democratic candidate Raphael Warnock ahead of the upcoming runoff elections on Jan. 5. Rubio urged people to vote for Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler because Warnock's "policies do not represent Georgia values."
"Democrat Raphael Warnock is the most radically liberal candidate anywhere in the country," Rubio wrote in a Fox News opinion piece. "He would vote in lock-step with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to eliminate the Senate filibuster, pack the U.S. Supreme Court, raise taxes on families and small businesses by trillions of dollars, decimate families and farmers with the Green New Deal, socialize your health care, shut down the economy, and weaponize technology companies to silence dissent."
Rubio labeled Warnock as "an unabashed Marxist sympathizer who would destroy the American Dream."
"He has repeatedly praised Marxism and socialism, and slammed capitalism, writing that 'the Marxist critique has much to teach the black church' and that the Black middle-class should pay more attention to the 'hard questions about the distribution of wealth,'" the senator wrote.
Earlier this month, Loeffler's campaign released a compilation of Warnock's writings and associations that appear to flirt with Marxism and socialism.
Like Rubio, Loeffler has made comments about Warnock's coziness with Marxism, and in November, she said that her Democratic challenger has "a Marxist ideology."
During an appearance on Fox News' "Hannity" on Wednesday night, Loeffler said she and fellow Georgia Republican Sen. David Perdue "are the firewall to socialism in this country."
"If we don't vote, we could see the election of America's first Marxist senator in this country, right here in Georgia. And that's why we're the firewall," Loeffler said of Warnock if he is elected.
"My opponent, radical liberal Raphael Warnock, is a socialist," Loeffler said during the debate between the candidates earlier this month. Loeffler challenged Warnock to "renounce socialism and Marxism."
Warnock refused to condemn socialism and Marxism, and defended his politics by replying, "I believe in the free enterprise system."
Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott called Warnock a "radical's radical," and questioned the Democratic candidate's comments about Cuba's former Marxist-Leninist dictator Fidel Castro. When Castro died in 2016, Warnock said, "We remember Fidel Castro, whose legacy is complex. Don't let anybody tell you a simple story."
Scott slammed Warnock's defense of Castro, "Murder isn't complex. Exporting terrorism across Latin America isn't complex. Denying his people basic human rights isn't complex. This shouldn't be hard."
In his article, Rubio concluded that the country does not need "someone like Raphael Warnock who espouses Marxism and has spent his life siding with brutal dictators."
Loeffler and Warnock will face off in a runoff election, as will incumbent Perdue and Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff. The Georgia races will determine which party controls the Senate next year. The Republicans hold a 50-48 advantage, but the chamber would be split if Warnock and Ossoff win, allowing the vice president to break any ties.
Stacey Abrams coaching Hollywood elites to help Democrats win Georgia runoffs, selling pricey tickets for virtual concert
Democrats are pulling out all of the stops in an effort to win the critical Senate runoffs in Georgia. Failed Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams is attempting to use the power of Hollywood to help sway voters in Georgia.
Starting on Nov. 27, Abrams will hold a weekly briefing "specifically for Hollywood agents, managers, publicists and entertainment execs for how they can best help" in Georgia's Senate runoff races, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
"I believe very much in the power of celebrity to cut through the noise of politics," Abrams said while promoting her movie "All In: The Fight for Democracy" on Nov. 18. "Whether it was in Georgia or in Michigan or Wisconsin, Arizona, or Nevada — states that faced aggressive voter suppression in 2016, 2018 — it was absolutely an important moment when they heard someone they saw not as a politician, which is an easy community to be suspect of, but those that they trusted as part of the way they think about how they organize their lives. It does indeed matter."
Abrams, who lost in 2018 to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, has never conceded her campaign loss, and blames her defeat on voter suppression.
Abrams is also planning a virtual concert to raise money for her Fair Fight PAC, an initiative "dedicated to funding, training, and supporting voter protection teams in battleground states across the country." The "Rock the Runoff" virtual concert will be held on Dec. 3, and include musical acts such as John Legend, Common, Earthgang, Ben Gibbard of Death Cab For Cutie, and Indigo Girls. Tickets to the virtual concert range from $5 to a pricey $25,000 ticket that includes "pre-event reception with Stacey Abrams and a signed thank you note with lapel pin."
Fair Fight PAC, which was founded by Abrams in 2018 after losing the election, used celebrities in videos to raise funds for the 2020 election. Fair Fight PAC enlisted celebrities such as Selena Gomez, Steph Curry. Yara Shahidi, Issa Rae, and Keke Palmer.
In the same THR report, Black Voters Matter co-founder LaTosha Brown said there's a "new South that's rising" because of film production in Georgia.
"We're trying to tell people not to write Georgia off, that Georgia is on the map," Brown told the Hollywood Reporter. "We've seen this transition — Georgia is the number one place for film productions, so this city has become more internationalized, I think one. I think it's been attractive to bringing diverse folks to the state. There's a new South that's rising with the growing presence of the film and entertainment industry."
"Many of the celebrities and Hollywood folks have been coming to us really being very transparent about not knowing what to do and asking us what they could do to help the work that's on the ground. That's been very refreshing because I've seen in other years where I felt people were doing it just to build their brand," Brown continued. "What I've been seeing is across the board, there have been people all throughout the industry that have been stepping up and I do think that that has made a difference."
Celebrities such as Kumail Nanjiani, Sophia Bush, and Jaden Smith are co-founders of Win Both Seats, an organization supporting the Democratic Senate candidates in Georgia.
Other entertainers who have donated to the Democrats' Georgia Federal Election Committee or the two Democratic Senate runoff candidates include George Clooney, Will Smith, Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Joaquin Phoenix, Jason Bateman, Mandy Moore, Patricia Arquette and Bradley Whitford, according to The Hill.
The Georgia Senate runoffs take place on Jan. 5, and will pit incumbent Kelly Loeffler (R) against candidate Raphael Warnock (D), as well as incumbent David Perdue (R) versus candidate Jon Ossoff (D). If Warnock and Ossoff both win, Democrats would then notch a 50-50 tie in the Senate, and the vice president would serve as the tiebreaker.
Today's top stories
www.theblaze.com
freebeacon.com