周日晚上，现任共和党参议员凯利·雷夫勒和她的民主党挑战者雷夫·沃尔诺克在佐治亚州参议院两次决胜选举的候选人之间进行了第一场——也可能是唯一一场——辩论。这将决定哪个政党控制国会上议院。
在这场由亚特兰大新闻俱乐部主办、佐治亚公共广播公司在亚特兰大的演播室进行的长达一小时的现场直播活动中，雷夫勒被迫承认共和党参议院多数人处于危险之中尽管没有承认当选总统乔·拜登的胜利。两位候选人还就宗教、治安和冠状病毒大流行展开了争论。
目前还没有安排其他辩论，佐治亚州资深参议员大卫·濮培德也面临着决选，他宣布他不会参加针对乔恩·奥索夫的任何辩论，当时亚特兰大新闻俱乐部也邀请他在周日晚上与民主党挑战者进行辩论。
虽然他拒绝辩论，但亚特兰大新闻俱乐部选择不取消辩论。相反，奥索夫花了30分钟批评濮培德，并与现任参议员进行对比。当他站在一个空的讲台旁边回答小组成员的问题时，他反复喊着濮培德不在。
奥索夫指责濮培德“傲慢”，因为他没有参加辩论，并说这位参议员觉得自己有权获得他目前拥有的席位。
“我真的很遗憾我们没有机会讨论这些问题，因为人民应该得到这些，”他在闭幕词中说。
离格鲁吉亚选民决定派哪些候选人去华盛顿只有30天了，辩论在选民登记截止日期前夕进行。但桃州的投票已经在进行中，数十万张缺席选票已经邮寄给选民，其中超过4万张选票已经被县选举官员退回并接受。
雷夫勒不愿透露她是否同意特朗普的观点，即选举被“操纵”
总统一再声称选举是对他的“操纵”，并在周六晚上桃子州的一次集会上再次这样做。尽管她说她支持特朗普在包括格鲁吉亚在内的全国各州竞选，但她不会重复选举被“操纵”的说法。
两次被问及是否支持并同意特朗普的“陈述”，她选择指出国务卿办公室在选举后时期启动的250项调查，而不是回答问题。
“很明显，这次选举存在问题。有250项调查已经展开……我们必须确保格鲁吉亚人信任这一过程，因为这关系到选举的成败，”雷夫勒在第二次被问及时说道。
她也没有说她是否支持特朗普，据报道，特朗普向州长布赖恩·坎普施压，要求召开大会特别会议推翻选举结果。
在辩论的这一部分，候选人可以向他们的对手提问，沃诺克继续讨论这个话题，坦率地问，“是还是不是，雷夫勒参议员:唐纳德·特朗普竞选失败了吗?”
雷夫勒再次重申她支持特朗普“利用一切可用的法律手段”
在后来的辩论中，她被问及总统对肯普的直接攻击，肯普任命雷夫勒为参议员。特朗普表示，他对支持肯普的竞选感到羞耻，并建议雷夫勒的前共和党对手众议员道格·柯林斯在2022年对他发起初选。
被一个小组成员推到一个盒子里，问她忠诚于州长还是总统，雷夫勒选择了第三种选择。
“我忠于格鲁吉亚，”她说。
雷夫勒说，参议院多数席位岌岌可危，尽管她不会明确承认拜登的胜利
虽然她没有明确承认拜登赢得了选举，但雷夫勒实际上承认了，她说，“这关系到参议院的多数席位。”
她可能会说她支持总统的法律挑战，但特朗普真的赢得了选举——并将继续担任总统——而且参议院的控制权尚未确定，这是不可能的。参议院的多数席位在这些选举中岌岌可危，因为如果沃诺克和奥索夫都赢了，民主党将在参议院占有50个席位，副总统当选人卡玛拉·哈里斯将是决定性的一票。
“(民主党人)想彻底改变我们的国家……我们知道这个国家将会走的方向，我们将继续确保格鲁吉亚人明白，我们在格鲁吉亚和整个国家的生活方式正受到左派的攻击，”雷夫勒说。
但辩论的主持人向参议员施压，要求她对这些竞选如何影响国家以及她如何不能两全其美进行可怕的描述。
“我不是要强调这一点，但你警告的所有这些事情都不会在特朗普总统担任总统期间发生。主持人、WAGA-TV/Fox5节目主持人拉斯·斯潘塞说:“所以，听起来你似乎承认这部分问题已经解决，现在对共和党人来说，保持参议院的多数席位，建立一个分裂的政府很重要。”。
但雷夫勒仍不愿明确承认他的声明，并再次重申共和党参议院多数的重要性。
“我正在努力确保共和党在参议院的多数席位得以保留，因为我们是常识性政策的减震器，这些政策将美国人团结在一起，让每个人都振奋起来，”她说。
雷夫勒并不是唯一一个坚持这一立场的人，但离选举日只有一个月了，共和党人直接或间接地表示担心特朗普关于大选的言论实际上可能会对佐治亚州的参议员不利，并抑制共和党在决选中的投票率。
沃诺克避免给出法庭包装的立场，即使他谴责其他自由主义优先事项
鲁斯·巴德·金斯伯格大法官去世后，在现任大法官艾米·科尼·巴雷特的确认过程中，参议院的一些民主党人表示支持将法院扩大到九名以上的法官。
但是在竞选活动中试图推翻脆弱的共和党人的民主党人没有那么快表示支持所谓的“法院打包”。
在周日的辩论中，沃诺克也不是。
他完全避免回答这个问题，说这不是首要问题。
“人们没有问我关于法院以及我们是否应该扩大法院的问题。“我知道这是一个有趣的问题，需要在环城公路上的人来讨论，但是他们想知道他们什么时候才能从新冠肺炎那里得到一些安慰，”沃诺克在第一次被问到他是否支持这个时说道。
小组成员，《亚特兰大日报-宪法》政治记者格雷格·蓝斯坦反驳并捍卫了这个问题的前提，称它将对选民产生影响。
沃诺克说:“我真的没有关注它，我认为华盛顿的政治经常是关于政治家的。”。
但沃诺克对主导2020年的其他自由主义优先事项是明确的。
雷夫勒一再表示，沃诺克和民主党人都想“解散警察”，但她的对手明确表示他不支持。
“我认为我们不应该解散警察，但我们确实需要刑事司法改革，”他说。“我们需要确保存在不当行为模式的警察、官员和部门承担责任。我们可以做到这一点，同时庆祝警察。”
当候选人在宗教问题上争论不休时，沃诺克在讲坛上为自己的记录辩护
沃诺克为自己的记录辩护，反对雷夫勒的攻击，后者在讲坛上就他的言论与他对抗时，一再称他为“激进的自由主义者”。
雷夫勒说:“激进的自由派拉斐尔·沃诺克称警官是‘歹徒、暴徒、恶霸’，是‘对我们孩子的威胁’。”。“他还说你不能侍奉上帝和军队。他用《圣经》来证明这类攻击的正当性，并发表了其他分裂性言论。
沃诺克在吹捧他的外联工作、对黑人的命也是命活动人士和警方的支持时表示，雷夫勒歪曲了他的记录，称她的袭击分散了他的注意力。
沃诺克说:“我很清楚，我的对手会非常努力地工作，花掉她自己数百万美元的钱，试图宣传我的故事，因为她清楚地决定，她没有理由为什么要留在那个席位上。”他补充说，他过去的许多布道都是断章取义的。
沃诺克说，雷夫勒正在利用他的宗教布道进行“愤世嫉俗的政治辩论”。
“那天，我在一篇非常熟悉的马太福音中讲道，‘你不能侍奉上帝和财神。’这是一个关于我们所做的一切的道德基础的布道，当你把一切都准备好了，这实际上使你成为一个更好的士兵。这也让你成为更好的参议员。沃诺克在反驳中说:“如果凯利·雷夫勒听了布道，而不是试图表达她廉价的政治观点，她就不会利用她作为美国参议员的优势在一场流行病上赚了数百万美元，同时贬低她应该代表的人。”
雷夫勒反驳说:“我是基督徒。我是一个有坚定信念的人。我不需要一个用圣经来证明攻击我们军队是正当的人的说教...但他也用圣经来证明堕胎是正当的。”
雷夫勒强调了她反堕胎的立场，并指责沃诺克是一个支持女性选择权的基督徒。
沃诺克反驳说，虽然他尊重生命，但他也尊重选择。
“问题是:这是谁的决定?我碰巧认为对一个女人、她的医生和美国政府来说，病人的房间太小了。我觉得房间里人太多了，”他说。
雷夫勒和沃诺克在冠状病毒反应上争论不休
在就新冠肺炎救援进行辩论时，沃诺克强调了这种流行病对佐治亚州农村选民的影响，其中许多人在医院关闭和缺乏足够医疗保健的情况下与病毒作斗争。
“我一直在全州范围内活动，尤其是去农村地区。当我去这些小镇的时候，他们会很惊讶我在那里。我很惊讶他们会惊讶。沃诺克说:“他们没有见过美国参议员，他们想知道为什么他们的医院要关门，为什么凯利·雷夫勒不认为在大流行期间确保他们有医疗保健是个好主意，”他补充说，“我们有九家医院已经关门，他们想知道华盛顿有谁在照顾他们。”
沃诺克批评了雷夫勒在新冠肺炎的回应，并说她没有为没有保险和失业的格鲁吉亚人提供足够的救济。
雷夫勒吹捧她对冠状病毒大流行的反应，并指出她是在春季投票通过3万亿美元刺激救援计划的参议员之一。
当被问及一旦新冠肺炎疫苗获得批准，他们是否会接种时，两位候选人都说会，并保证会鼓励其他人也这样做。
沃诺克说，他还将确保来自被剥夺权利社区的美国人能够获得疫苗。
沃诺克说:“作为一名参议员，我将努力工作，确保那些经常被边缘化的社区不会再次发现自己被边缘化，确保他们能够获得疫苗。”。
5 key takeaways from Georgia Senate runoff debate
Incumbent Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler and her Democratic challenger, Rev. Raphael Warnock, faced off Sunday night in the first -- and potentially only -- debate between candidates competing in Georgia’s two Senate runoffs,which will determinewhich party controls Congress’s upper chamber.
In the hour-long live event, which was hosted by the Atlanta Press Club and broadcast from Georgia Public Broadcasting’s studio in Atlanta, Loeffler was pressed on her acknowledgment that the Republican Senatemajority is at stake, despite not acknowledging President-elect Joe Biden’s win. The two candidates also sparred over religion, policing and the coronavirus pandemic.
No other debates have been scheduled yet, and Sen. David Perdue, Georgia’s senior senator who is also facing a runoff, declared he would not participate in a single debate against Jon Ossoff when the Atlanta Press Club extended an invitation to him to debate his Democratic challenger Sunday evening as well.
While he refused to debate, the Atlanta Press Club chose not to cancel the debate. Instead, Ossoff spent his allotted 30 minutes criticizing Perdue and contrasting himself to the sitting senator. He repeatedly called out Perdue’s absence as he took questions from panelists while standing next to an empty podium.
Ossoff blasted Perdue as “arrogant” for not participating in the debate, saying the senator feels entitled to the seat he currently holds.
“I truly regret that we haven't had the opportunity to debate the issues, because the people deserve it,” he said in his closing statements.
There are just 30 days left until Georgia voters will decide which candidates to send to Washington, and the debate fell on the eve of the voter registration deadline. But voting is already underway in the Peach State, with hundreds of thousands of absentee ballots already having been mailed out to voters, and over 40,000 of those ballots have already been returned and accepted by county election officials.
Loeffler won’t say whether she agrees with Trump that election was ‘rigged’
The president has repeatedly claimed that the election was “rigged” against him, and did so again during a rally Saturday night in the Peach State. Despite saying she supports Trump as he contests the election in states across the country, including Georgia, she would not repeat that the election was “rigged.”
Asked twice if she stood by and agreed with Trump’s “narrative,” she chose to point out the 250 investigations the secretary of state’s office has opened in the post-election period instead of answering the question.
“It's very clear that there were issues in this election. There were 250 investigations opened… we have to make sure that Georgians trust this process because of what’s at stake in the election,” Loeffler said the second time she was asked.
She also would not say whether she supports Trump reportedly pressuring Gov. Brian Kemp to call a special session of the General Assembly to override the election results.
During the part of the debate where the candidates get to ask their opponent a question, Warnock followed up on this topic, asking plainly, “Yes or no, Sen. Loeffler: did Donald Trump lose the election?”
Loeffler again reiterated her support for Trump to “use every legal recourse available.”
Later in the debate, she was asked about the president’s direct attacks on Kemp, who appointed Loeffler to the Senate. Trump has said he was ashamed to support Kemp’s campaign and suggested Loeffler’s former Republican opponent, Rep. Doug Collins, launch a primary bid against him in 2022.
Pushed into a box by one of the panelists, who asked whether her loyalty lies with the governor or the president, Loeffler chose option three.
“My loyalties are with Georgia,” she said.
Loeffler says Senate majority is at stake, even though she won’t explicitly acknowledge Biden’s win
While she did not explicitly acknowledge Biden won the election, Loeffler effectively did when she said, “What's at stake is the Senate majority.”
She may say she supports the president’s legal challenges, but it cannot be true that Trump actually won the election -- and will continue to be president -- and control of the Senate has yet to be determined. The Senate majority is only at stake in these elections because if both Warnock and Ossoff win, Democrats will hold 50 seats in the Senate, and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris would be the tie-breaking vote.
“(The Democrats) want to radically change our country… We know the direction the country would take, and we’re going to continue to make sure that Georgians understand that our very way of life here in Georgia and across the country is under attack by the left,” Loeffler said.
But the debate’s moderator pressed the senator on her dire characterization of how these races could impact the country, and how she can’t have it both ways.
“Not to belabor the point, but all those things that you’re warning about would not be happening, presumably, with President Trump as president. So, it almost sounds as though you're conceding that that part of it has been settled, and now it's important for the Republicans to keep the majority in the Senate, to have a divided government,” the moderator, WAGA-TV/Fox5 anchor Russ Spencer, said.
But Loeffler still wouldn’t explicitly acknowledge his statement, and again reiterated the importance of a Republican Senate majority.
“I'm fighting to make sure that the Republican majority is retained in the Senate, because we are the shock absorber for commonsense policies that bring Americans together, that lift everyone up,” she said.
It’s a line Loeffler has not been alone in toeing, but there’s only a month left until election day, and Republicans have both, directly and indirectly, raised concerns that Trump’s rhetoric about the general election could actually work against Georgia’s senators, and suppress GOP turnout for the runoff.
Warnock evades giving court packing stance, even as he denounces other liberal priorities
Following Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death, and during the confirmation process for now-Justice Amy Coney Barrett, some Democrats in the Senate voiced support for expanding the court to more than nine justices.
But Democrats on the campaign trail vying to unseat vulnerable Republicans were not so quick to voice their support for what’s been called “court packing.”
During Sunday’s debate, Warnock wasn’t either.
He avoided answering the question altogether, saying it wasn’t top of mind.
“People aren’t asking me about the courts and whether we should expand the courts. I know that's an interesting question for people inside the Beltway to discuss, but they are wondering when in the world are they gonna get some COVID-19 relief,” Warnock said when he was first asked whether he supported this.
The panelist, Atlanta Journal-Constitution political reporter Greg Bluestein, pushed back and defended the question's premise, saying it would have an impact on voters.
“I’m really not focused on it, and I think that too often, the politics in Washington has been about the politicians,” Warnock said.
But Warnock was definitive on other liberal priorities that dominated 2020.
Loeffler repeatedly said that Warnock, and Democrats in general, want to “defund the police,” but her opponent clearly stated he didn’t support that.
“I don't think we should defund the police, but we certainly do need criminal justice reform,” he said. “We need to make sure that police and officers and departments that have a pattern of misconduct are held accountable. We can do that and celebrate police at the same time.”
Warnock defends his record on the pulpit as candidates tangle over religion
Warnock defended his record against Loeffler's attacks, who repeatedly referred to him as a “radical liberal” while confronting him about his rhetoric on the pulpit.
“Radical liberal Raphael Warnock has called police officer's ‘gangsters, thugs, bullies’ and 'a threat to our children,'” Loeffler said. “He's also said that you can’t serve God and the military. He’s used the bible to justify these types of attacks and make other divisive statements."
While touting his outreach work, support for Black Lives Matter activists and the police, Warnock said that Loeffler is misrepresenting his record, calling her attacks a distraction.
“It is clear to me that my opponent is going to work really hard, spending millions of dollars of her own money, trying to push a narrative about me because she is clearly decided that she does not have a case to be made for why she should stay in that seat,” Warnock said, adding that many of his past sermons were taken out of context.
Warnock said Loeffler was making “cynical, political arguments” out of his religious sermons.
“I was preaching that day from a very familiar Matthew's text that says, ‘you cannot serve God and mammon.’ It was a sermon about a moral foundation for everything that we do, and that, when you have everything in order, that actually makes you a better soldier. It also makes you a better senator. And had Kelly Loeffler listened to the sermon, rather than try to make her cheap political point, she would not have used her advantage as a U.S. Senator to make millions on a pandemic, while playing it down to the people she was supposed to be representing,” Warnock said in a rebuttal.
Loeffler countered, saying, "I’m a Christian. I'm a person of deep faith. I don't need a lecture from someone who has used the bible to not only justify attacking our military... But he's also used the bible to justify abortion."
Loeffler made a point to highlight her pro-life, anti-abortion stance, and called-out Warnock for being a Christian man who supports a woman’s right to choose.
In a rebuttal, Warnock said that while he has reverence for life, he also respects choice.
“The question is: whose decision is it? And I happen to think that a patient's room is too small a place for a woman, her doctor, and the U.S. Government. I think that's too many people in the room," he said.
Health care front and center as Loeffler and Warnock spar over coronavirus response
While debating over COVID-19 relief, Warnock highlighted how the pandemic has impacted rural voters in Georgia, many of whom are battling the virus amid hospital closures and without adequate health care.
“I have been moving all across this state, especially going to rural areas. And when I go to these small towns, they’re surprised that I am there. I'm surprised that they’re surprised. They haven’t seen a U.S. senator and they’re wondering why their hospitals are closing, why Kelly Loeffler doesn’t think it's a good idea to make sure that they have health care in the middle of the pandemic,” Warnock said, adding, “Nine of our hospitals have closed and there wondering who in Washington is looking out for them.”
Warnock criticized Loeffler for her COVID-19 response and said that she did not do enough to provide relief for uninsured and unemployed Georgians suffering during the pandemic.
Loeffler touted her response to the coronavirus pandemic and noted that she was among the senators who voted to pass the $3 trillion stimulus relief package in the spring.
When asked if they would take the COVID-19 vaccine once it is approved, both candidates said they would, and ensured that they would encourage others to do the same.
Warnock said he would also make sure that Americans from disenfranchised communities would have access to the vaccine.
“I will try to work hard, as a senator, to make sure that communities that are so often marginalized don't find themselves at the back of the line again, that they have access to the vaccine,” Warnock said.
