Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has given Republicans in Georgia a huge talking point for the upcoming runoff races for the state’s two Senate seats.
He promised to “change the world” if voters in the Southern state give his party both of its Senate seats.
With the parties now deadlocked at 48 seats each, there are four races not yet called from last week’s election. In Alaska, Republican incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan leads his challenger by a nearly 2-1 margin. And in North Carolina, Republican incumbent Sen. Thom Tillis leads his challenger by some 100,000 votes with 99.9% of the precincts reporting.
The two Georgia runoffs are between incumbent Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler and Democratic challenger Raphael Warnock, and incumbent Republican Sen. David Perdue and Democrat Jon Ossof.
RedState.com noted Fox News analyst Brit Hume and others called Schumer’s comments an accidental gift to Senate Republicans.
“Sensing momentum was on the left’s side, Sen. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer took to the streets in his home state of New York Saturday during a Biden-Harris ‘victory’ rally to proclaim total domination was within reach. ‘Now we take Georgia, then we change the world,’ he declared. In the very next sentence, which he uttered after putting his mask on, Schumer promised, ‘Now we take Georgia, then we change America.'”
Stocks surged last week in reponse to the prospect of a gridlocked Washington, with a Republican-majority Senate blocking Democratic plans to overturn President Trump’s tax cuts and advance radical plans such as the Green New Deal.
Chuck Schumer at NYC celebration:
“Now we take Georgia and then we change America” pic.twitter.com/uIoy1NRR62
— Status Coup (@StatusCoup) November 7, 2020
It probably did not help the Dems’ cause in Georgia that Schumer was out Saturday saying that if his party wins the Georgia seats “We will change America.” GA may have acted to change the occupant of the White House, it’s doubtful they wish to “change America.”
— Brit Hume (@brithume) November 8, 2020
Republicans wasted no time in taking advantage of Schumer’s gaffe.
.@ChuckSchumer said it best: “Now, we take Georgia. Then we change America.”
Help us defend America by chipping in here ➡️ https://t.co/1Q0jAyjS3z pic.twitter.com/NQfI7i6bai
— The Senate Majority (@NRSC) November 7, 2020
Perdue immediately responded:
Not on our watch. Donate now to help me and @KLoeffler defeat Chuck Schumer. We win these two races, we save the senate. We save the Senate, we save the country. This is what is at stake. #GAsen #gapolhttps://t.co/dHmdaBoWmn https://t.co/xnchcaAp0R
— David Perdue (@Perduesenate) November 7, 2020
There were 33 Senate seats up for election this year and two special elections. The Republicans were defending 23 seats while the Democrats were defending 12. Currently, the Republicans hold a 53-47 majority.
On the Republican side, incumbents Susan Collins of Maine, Steve Daines in Montana, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, Joni Ernst of Iowa, Bill Cassidy in Louisiana, Cynthia Hyde-Smith of Mississippi, Jim Risch in Idaho, Roger Marshall in Kansas, Mitch McConnell in Kentucky, Jim Inhofe in Oklahoma, Tom Cotton in Arkansas, Mike Rounds of South Dakota, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, John Cornyn of Texas and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina were winners.
Republican Bill Hagerty in Tennessee won an open seat, and Republican Tommy Tuberville took away Democrat Sen. Doug Jones’ Senate from Alabama.
Democrat incumbents Tina Smith of Minnesota, Chris Coons in Delaware, Richard Durbin in Illinois, Edward Markey in Massachusetts, Jeanne Shaheen in New Hampshire, Cory Booker in New Jersey, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, John Reed in Rhode Island, Gary Peters of Michigan and Mark Warner in Virginia were victorious.
In Arizona, Democrat Mark Kelly upset incumbent Republican Sen. Martha McSally. And Democrat Ben Ray Lujan won the open seat in New Mexico.
Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat, defeated Republican Sen. Cory Gardner.
In the 2014 election, the last time these seats were up for election, Republicans won nine from Democrats and took over the majority in the Senate. They maintained their hold in 2016 and 2018.
