Georgia Senate candidate Matt Lieberman doesn’t think he’s hurting Democratic chances of flipping the Republican-held seat by staying in the race and potentially splitting Democratic support.
Lieberman, the son of 2000 Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Lieberman, is one of 21 candidates running in the multiparty special election for the final two years of retired Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson’s term. The seat is currently held by appointed Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler.
Polls consistently put Lieberman in fourth place behind Loeffler, Republican Rep. Doug Collins, and Democrat Raphael Warnock, a senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church. But the former teacher and businessman defended himself against increasing pressure to drop out to help Warnock and avoid a Jan. 5 runoff between the first two finishers if no contender earns 50% of the vote on Election Day.
“To the concern that I could be a spoiler, the political math says otherwise,” Lieberman tweeted late Tuesday.
Since Georgia is considered a swing state, “there are two equal-sized pools of voters,” so “the top Democrat and the top Republican will be the top two who advance,” Lieberman said.
“The only way I am a threat to him [is] if we are virtually tied, all four of us,” Lieberman wrote of Warnock. “And in that event, it could be most accurately said that we are all an equal threat to each other with an equal chance to win.”
Hey there. I hear you and obviously understand the importance of the seat. Here’s my perspective. With 21 candidates in the race, no one is going to get 50% in November. There would have to be around 9 candidates who drop out. There might even be a runoff in the other Senate race
— Matt Lieberman (@LiebermanForGa) September 23, 2020
Lieberman has also faced pressure to suspend his campaign due to complaints concerning his rosy depiction of Ku Klux Klan members in his 2008 self-published novel Lucius.
Loeffler averages a 2.5-point lead on the crowded field in RealClearPolitics’s compiled polls. A Monmouth University survey released Wednesday had Loeffler in front with 23% support, closely followed by Collins with 22% and Warnock with 21%. Lieberman attracted 11% in the university’s research.
