Pence zeroes in on Warnock at Georgia rally with ‘antisemitic’ charge

Outgoing VP hammers Senator Kelly Loeffler’s runoff foe in first of two Thursday rallies in Peach State

Vice President Mike Pence zeroed in on Georgia Democrat Raphael Warnock by contending he is too radical and too anti-Israel for the Senate, telling a rally crowd there they should send back the state’s two GOP senators to block the Biden administration’s agenda.

Mr Pence spent more time during a rally in Columbus – his first of two there on Thursday – criticising Mr Warnock, who faces Senator Kelly Loeffler in a runoff election on 5 January. While he also had harsh words for Democrat Jon Ossoff, who faces GOP Senator David Perdue in another runoff the same day, the Black reverend took more flack.

“Radical liberal Raphael Warnock … has demeaned our military,” Mr Pence said to boos, adding an allegation that the senate candidate has “defended the antisemitic rhetoric of the Reverend Jeremiah Wright". (He was the former pastor of Barack and Michelle Obama, and has made controversial statements about a number of issues in the past, making him a lightning rod for conservatives.)

The conservative right-hand man of Donald Trump went on to contend Mr Warnock and Mr Ossoff have griped about Republicans during the president’s term slashing taxes, alleging they intend to raise taxes, if elected.

The outgoing VP was back in the Peach State for the second time in six days as Republicans attempt to hold their Senate majority.

Both sitting GOP Georgia senators, David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, face Democratic challengers in 5 January runoff elections.

If Republicans win just one of those seats, they will maintain a razor-thin majority when the new Senate is seated early next month. But if both Democratic candidates, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, win, that party would take the majority – via Vice President-elect Kamala Harris being able to cast the tie-breaking vote.

Both parties are deploying their biggest names to try taking the Senate gavel.

President-elect Joe Biden was in Atlanta on Monday, rallying car horn-honking supporters at a rally.

He urged Democrats to turn out in “record numbers” in support of their candidates, saying the Republican incumbents would be a roadblock in the way of his agenda.

“I need two senators from the state who want to get something done, not two senators who want to stand in the way,” he said. “You still need to vote like your life depends on it – because it does."

Two days later, the VP agreed, declaring with vigour that Mr Perdue and Ms Loeffler would indeed “get in the way of open borders” and progressives’ “Green New Deal” – which Mr Biden has not completely embraced –  and “packing the courts” – an issue which Mr Biden has said he would appoint a commission to study.

He called his fellow Republicans “two Georgia senators who will get in the way of the radical agenda of the Democratic Party and fight for Georgia everyday.”

“If you don’t vote, they win,” Mr Pence said. “There could be nothing from preventing Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi from advancing their radical left agenda.”

Most experts, however, contend Mr Biden is more likely to govern as a moderate, left-of-center Democrat. The president-elect says in almost every speech that he “ran as a proud Democrat” but intends to govern as a president of all.

Mr Pence and Mr Biden agreed on another matter in their Georgia rallies, and the former put it this way: “It all comes down to Georgia.”