Sen. Loeffler Debates Warnock, Stops Short of Conceding Trump Has Lost

Making a call for Georgia voters to come out for Republicans in the Jan. 5 runoff, Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., said it determines the balance of power in the Senate, but deflected on admitting President Donald Trump has lost the White House.

"What's at stake is Senate majority," Loeffler said during Sunday's debate against Democrat Rev. Raphael Warnock. "This will determine who brings bills to the Senate floor and under the Republican Senate."

Republicans already control 50 Senate seats before the two Georgia Senate runoffs, so the vice president would cast the deciding vote in a 50-50 split. Democrats can only win the Senate majority if they sweep the runoffs and Joe Biden wins the White House.

Warnock is challenging for Loeffler's Senate seat as Democrats seek to flip the majority of the upper chamber from Republicans. Fellow incumbent Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., faces Jon Ossoff for the other Senate seat.

"If everything is at stake Jan. 5, that would presume that President Trump has lost, is that what you're saying?" a moderator asked Loeffler.

She answered without conceding Trump had lost the White House on two separate moments during the debate.

"Well, I saw firsthand that the Senate is the shock absorber in the country," she replied when pressed again to confirm whether she concedes Trump has lost. "I saw that firsthand when I got to Washington and the impeachment trial started. I saw the Russia hoax and how that distracted us from addressing this virus. The Democrats have played nothing but politics since day one. They've never accepted that President Trump was president.

"They were distracted from serving Americans. They were distracted during the pandemic, and now they've used the pandemic to try to fundamentally change this country and put the cost of big government on the back of hard-working Georgians.

"That's why I'm fighting to make sure that the Republican majority is retained in the Senate because we are the shock absorber for commonsense policies that bring Americans together, that lift everyone up, that provides for great educational choices for kids, that stops the radical agenda of the abortion on demand that Democrats want, that attacks our Second Amendment rights.

"They want to take away our guns. They want to tax guns and they want to fundamentally change America and radical liberal Raphael Warnock is their agent of change."

After taking flak early in the debate for being the richest member of Congress, Loeffler pressed Democrat Rev. Raphael Warnock on his anti-police and anti-military remarks.

"I'm a Christian," Loeffler said, responding to Warnock saying he said man cannot serve God and military, using a verse from Matthew in the Bible's New Testament that says man cannot serve God and man. "I'm a person of deep faith.

"I don't need a lecture from someone who has used the Bible to not only justify attacking our military. That's not in Matthew 6:24. It doesn't say you can't serve the military and God. But he's also used the Bible to justify abortion. I cannot stand by and let Georgians not know who my opponent is, how radical his views are, and how he would fundamentally change our country. He's out of step with Georgia's values."

Warnock attacked Loeffler for her sale of stock after receiving a classified Senate intelligence briefing on the global coronavirus before it was declared a pandemic.

"She was only there three weeks," Warnock said, pointing to Loeffler being assigned the Senate seat by Gov. Brian Kemp. "I'm not sure she was fully unpacked when she started dumping millions of dollars of stock trying to protect herself.

"And she purchased that seat. It's done well for her. The issue is, the people who sold it to her, don't own it. And the people of Georgia are coming back to get their seat."

Loeffler, reportedly worth an estimated a half billion dollars, rebuked that attack and reminded moderators she was "completely exonerated," adding "those are lies perpetrated by the left wing media and Democrats to distract from their radical agenda."

She continued when he brought it up again: "Well, you've just heard more lies from radical liberal Raphael Warnock, who wants to distract from his own words, calling police officers gangsters, thugs, bullies, and a threat to our children, saying you can't serve God and the military – for his attacks on Israel."