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At a campaign stop in Macon, Georgia, last week Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler doubled down on her support for $2,000 stimulus checks instead of the $600 checks that are now being deposited in Americans’ accounts under the latest coronavirus aid plan approved by Congress in December.
President Donald Trump has been adamant that the $600 relief checks aren’t enough to help Americans get back on their feet, some of whom have been without full-time jobs and unable to pay their rent since early 2020.
Loeffler, who is in the midst of a special runoff election against Rev. Raphael Warnock, the pastor at historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, didn’t speak much about the checks Saturday as she campaigns for her re-election on Jan. 5, along with David Perdue, the other incumbent Republican senator in the runoffs.
But in earlier tweets last week Loeffler did support Trump’s call for larger checks to be paid to lower income Americans, saying, “I’ve stood with our President 100% of the time, and I’m with him in the fight to deliver $2,000 relief checks to the American people.”
Meanwhile, Perdue, a staunch Trump supporter who is in a runoff with Democrat Jon Ossoff, a former documentary filmmaker, recently tweeted similarly support for increasing the checks, saying, “I support this push for $2,000 in direct relief checks to the American people.”
However, Perdue’s stance on the stimulus checks, let alone the amount the checks should be, has changed from his earlier opinion as he struggles to win undecided voters. Earlier Perdue was quoted in a May 7, 2020 Marietta Daily Journal story where he voiced what he called a “controversial position” when he opposed individuals receiving $1,200 stimulus checks.
Now, with the early voting period finished and the election just three days away, the controversial issue of how to handle support for the stimulus checks is an example of the difficulty candidates are facing trying to win in such swing counties as Fayette, 27 miles outside of Atlanta.
In Fayette county in the November elections voters chose Trump by a margin of 37,952 to 33,065 over Biden, and Perdue 38,403 over Ossoff’s 31,477. However, the majority-Republican county voted in favor of the Democrat Warnock over Loeffler by 22,840 to 21,759.
See: Democrats take early lead as early voting ends in Georgia runoffs, Georgia paper says
The implications of this Senate race are crucial to the incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden as the Senate seats currently stand at 50-48 in favor of the Republicans. A Democratic sweep of the runoffs, giving the Democrats two more seats, would put the tie-breaking vote on the shoulders of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
Trump has also alienated some Georgia Republicans over this attacks on Republican Governor Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. Trump originally endorsed Kemp in the 2018 gubernatorial campaign, but last week Trump abruptly called for Kemp to resign, calling him an “obstructionist” and attacking him for refusing to acknowledge that he won the presidential race in Georgia, despite President-elect Joe Biden’s roughly 12,000-vote lead in the state.
But support for the $2,000 stimulus checks by Loeffler and Perdue is one way for the Senators to remain on the good side of Trump supporters heading into election day Jan. 5.
