MONROE, Ga. — Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler will bring their campaign to Walton County, hoping to run up the total in a reliably red area of Georgia as they try and hold the Senate for Republicans.
Roy Roberts Sr., chairman of the county GOP, said he hopes to see a record crowd at the event, which will begin at 4 p.m. Dec. 21 at his farm at 54 Nunnally Farm Road, between Monroe and Walnut Grove.
“National television is going to be here and I think they’re going to do a film of it for one of Perdue’s ads,” Roberts said. “It’s going to be a pretty big event, I think.”
Perdue and Loeffler are in runoffs to hold their Senate seats, with the balance of power riding on the results. Early voting starts Monday and the election is Jan. 5.
Republicans would hold 52 seats if Perdue is reelected to a six-year term and voters confirm Gov. Brian Kemp’s appointment of Loeffler to fill out the last two years of former Sen. Johnny Isakson’s term.
But if their challengers — Jon Ossoff and the Rev. Raphael Warnock — win, Democrats would hold the power in a 50-50 tie once Vice President-elect Kamala Harris takes office as president of the Senate on Jan. 20.
The national significance of the Georgia elections means multiple senators may well attend the Walton County rally, Roberts said.
So far, confirmed guests include Kemp, Reps. Jody Hice and Dan Crenshaw and Public Service Commissioner Lauren “Bubba” McDonald.
Crenshaw is a retired Navy SEAL whose right eye was damaged beyond repair by a roadside bomb in 2012 during a deployment to Afghanistan.
He went on to serve in two more deployments before retiring and in 2018 was elected to a seat in Congress representing the Houston area.
Hice was reelected to a fourth term last month serving Walton County. He has been an outspoken critic of the Georgia elections.
Kemp, an Athens native, has been a frequent guest of Walton County Republican functions dating to his time as secretary of state. He has always been popular with members of the local party, but this will be his first meeting since drawing the ire of President Donald Trump for not doing more to overturn results that saw Democrat Joe Biden carry the Peach State.
A rally for Kemp and other statewide Republican candidates drew about 1,000 people to Roberts’ farm in 2018, and Roberts said he hopes to see that surpassed this time, pending issues from COVID-19.
“We want everybody who can come that will,” he said.
