Georgia’s two U.S. senators called on the state’s top elections official, a fellow Republican, to resign on Monday in a shocking attempt to appease President Donald Trump and his supporters ahead of consequential Jan. 5 runoffs.
U.S. Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue provided no evidence to back up claims of unspecified “failures” with the November election, overseen by Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, echoing other Trump supporters who falsely claim widespread fraud contributed to his defeat.
The two were attempting to energize conservatives upset over Trump’s loss to President-elect Joe Biden, who is on the cusp of becoming the first Democrat to flip Georgia for the first time since 1992. Biden led Trump by over 11,500 votes on Monday afternoon.
Raffensperger said he’s not going to resign and will continue to ensure that the election is fair.
“My job is to follow Georgia law and see to it that all legal votes, and no illegal votes, are counted properly and accurately,” Raffensperger said. “As secretary of state, that is my duty, and I will continue to do my duty. As a Republican, I am concerned about Republicans keeping the U.S. Senate. I recommend that Senators Loeffler and Perdue start focusing on that.”
Their letter came just hours after the secretary of state’s office on Monday debunked several conspiracy theories about missing or mishandled ballots.
State election officials said claims that military ballots went missing are false, as are claims that ballots were dumped in Spalding County. Also false are allegations that ballots were harvested or results are inaccurate. The lone elections lawsuit filed in Georgia, involving ballot handling in Chatham County, was quickly dismissed last week.