In Georgia, GOP candidates hitch wagons to 'fraud' narrative csmonitor.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from csmonitor.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
President Donald Trump has always put a premium on personal loyalty. But this postelection period – in which he has continued to press unfounded claims of fraud even as President-elect Joe Biden prepares to take office – has presented Republican officials with a stark test, and created new fissures in the party.
In Georgia, where two Jan. 5 runoff elections will determine control of the U.S. Senate, incumbent GOP Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue have sided with the president in bashing their own state’s election apparatus and the Republican officials in charge of it.
By amplifying Mr. Trump’s baseless fraud charges, the senators could undermine their own reelection efforts – since fueling doubts about the integrity of Georgia’s voting could conceivably depress GOP turnout. But keeping the president’s supporters angry over a “stolen” election could also prove to be a powerful political motivator, even after Mr. Trump has left the White House.