Trump’s Election Rigging Lies Backfire As GOP Turnout Plunges In Georgia

Last updated on January 14th, 2021 at 05:14 am

Republican incumbent Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler are seeing alarmingly low turnout numbers in parts Georgia that the GOP needs to win to hold onto the pair of Senate seats.

MSNBC‘s Steve Kornacki pointed out that in three Republican counties in a core red part of the state, the GOP is seeing turnout down by more than 15 percent.

“We’ve now seen three different counties … Republican counties, where that turnout has been down more than 15%,” Kornacki said. “This was the thing Republicans were worried about. ”

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Kornacki said:

North Georgia, are Republicans getting the turnout? They are so worried about same-day turnout, about Republican turnout. … We’ve now seen three different counties, kind of here in northeastern Georgia, we have seen three different counties, Republican counties, where that turnout has been down more than 15%. Now again, smaller counties here. Let’s see if this continues. This was the thing Republicans were worried about. Their part of the state. One of their big key parts of the state, north Georgia, were they going to be on the same pace for turnout there as other parts of the state? They were so worried about same-day turnout. That’s why they sent the president in there. Those three completed counties in northeast Georgia, those are not turnout numbers in those three that Republicans want. 

As Dave Wasserman summarized on Twitter, “Bottom line so far: I think Republicans have a turnout problem.”

Telling your base the election is rigged probably wasn’t a winning strategy

There is still plenty of vote left to be counted in Georgia and it’s possible that the winners won’t be declared for days. But lower turnout in GOP strongholds is not a good sign for Republicans.

Going into this race, the GOP feared that Donald Trump‘s post-election behavior, including his constant talk of rigged elections, would keep Republicans from turning out in the numbers they needed to win.

These races are far from settled, but telling your base that the election is rigged probably wasn’t a winning strategy.

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Sean Colarossi

Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.