Axios co-founder Mike Allen told CNBC on Thursday that some Republicans believe President Donald Trump is hurting the party’s chances in the run-up to Georgia’s Senate next week.
“There’s a huge line of thinking among Republicans that President Trump is sabotaging this race. He did so much to help those candidates,” Allen said on Squawk Box, referring to GOP Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue.
“I talk to Republicans and they watch what happens, and they say, ‘You know, he has to think,’ I want to send a message, if I’m not in the mood, Republicans are in trouble, ‘” he said. he said. Allen, a longtime political reporter in Washington.
Allen’s remarks come before Tuesday’s important run-off election, which will determine the balance of power in the US Senate. Loeffler is running against Democrat Raphael Warnock, while Perdue’s opponent is Democrat Jon Ossoff. Trump campaigned for Loeffler and Perdue earlier this month and he will hold another rally in the state on Monday.
Republicans only need to win one of the races to retain a majority in the Senate with 100 seats; the IDP currently holds a 50-48 advantage if it includes two independents overseeing Democrats.
If both Democrats in Georgia win, it will tip the scales in their party’s favor, as Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will be the deciding vote. It will also mean that Democrats control both chambers of Congress, plus the White House, after President-elect Joe Biden was inaugurated on January 20th. Biden defeated Trump in the November 3 election, helped in part by his victory in Georgia. Biden was the first Democrat to win the state since 1992.
“Keeping a Republican majority in the Senate has been a priority for the president from the beginning,” Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh said in a statement to CNBC on Thursday. “He will rally voters to support Senators Perdue and Loeffler and warn that their opponents are left-wing extremists supporting higher taxes, the crushing Green New Deal and amnesty for 11 million illegal aliens.”
Allen, who was co-founder of Politico before launching Axios in January 2017, said Republicans initially felt confident that Loeffler and Perdue would defeat their Democratic challengers. “Georgia is still pretty red there despite the presidential election. Republicans said, ‘In the end, it could be good.’ “They are no longer sure it is good, and a lot of it has to do with the president,” Allen said.
Trump refused to concede the election to Biden and falsely claimed he lost the race due to massive voter fraud. He also attacked numerous elected Republicans in Georgia, including Governor Brian Kemp, for their handling of the election.
Trump also urged Congress to increase stimulus checks to Americans to $ 2,000, with a $ 900 billion coronavirus relief package that includes direct payments of $ 600 days before it is finally signed. He continued his insistence on $ 2,000 checks, a proposal backed by Democrats, which is not popular with Republicans in the Senate.
Ossoff and Warnock quickly seized on Trump’s claim last week and used it to bark at their opponents. However, Loeffler and Perdue have since supported Trump’s proposal for $ 2,000 checks.
“Republicans look at it and they say, ‘As President Trump says every day something that puts the candidates on the ballot or makes some of them … voters who might be in doubt about Trump anyway, but Republicans are in their legs, as He gives. ‘they have every day a reason not to come out, or to decide to go the other way,’ ‘Allen said.
CNBC reached out to the campaigns for Loeffler and Perdue, as well as the White House, for comment on Allen’s comments.