Republican strategist Karl Rove said Wednesday that the Georgia Senate runoff election is “the last line of defense for conservative values” as a Republican defeat would give Democrats control of the Senate and deliver their political agenda.
“The only way to rein in the excesses of a Democratic White House and the Democratic House of Representatives is to have a Republican Senate … This is the last line of defense for conservative values,” the former White House deputy chief of staff told Fox News’ “Hannity.”
“If we don’t control — have a Republican majority — in the U.S. Senate, then [Democrats] are going to have … a clear path to this nutty agenda, get rid of the 60 vote rule and pass every nutty nostrum and lock-in a governing Democratic left majority for decades to come. So money, marbles and chalk — as we say in Texas.”
Both Republican Georgia Sen. David Perdue and his Republican colleague Sen. Kelly Loeffler are locked in a runoff election with Democratic challengers Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, respectively. (RELATED: Stacey Abrams Predicts Ossoff, Warnock ‘Absolutely’ Can Win Georgia Runoffs)
Rove said he is “deeply involved” in the runoff election and told Republican supporters, “Let’s not kid ourselves. This is a real race. Biden won the state of Georgia so Republicans can’t take it for granted.” He noted that the demographics of the population have changed as “younger, more liberal people” have moved into the Southern state.
The strategist also pointed out that failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams “has spent … tens of millions of other people’s money to build up a giant GOTV [Get Out The Vote] machine and it’s revved up and going and the votes start on December 7th when you can mail in ballots.”
Abrams contended that voter suppression was the cause of her electoral loss and she sued the state of Georgia to overturn legislation that limited early voting.
Rove also noted that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer was active in raising money to try to defeat Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, spending “an ungodly amount of money … You don’t think he is going to pour money into this state?”
But Rove said the Democratic candidates may be too left-wing for voters’ tastes, “particularly Warnock,” whom Rove noted was a youth pastor at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, New York, when it hosted Cuban communist dictator Fidel Castro for a speech in 1995 and has said that Americans “cannot serve God and the military.”
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Rev. Raphael Warnock speaks during an Election Night event on Nov. 3, 2020 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Jessica McGowan/Getty Images)
“This guy is a lefty in favor of every nostrum in the Bernie Sanders playbook”. (RELATED: Scarborough: Republicans ‘Should Win’ Georgia Senate Runoff Unless They ‘Follow The Madness Of Trump’)
Rove also said both Perdue and Loeffler are fighting a great campaign for reelection. “Both these candidates … understand GOTV; they are building a state-of-the-art Get Out The Vote operation, using lots of Georgians and plenty of volunteers coming in from outside of the state.”