ATLANTA — Former Republican Sen. David Perdue has vowed to keep fighting in Georgia despite losing to Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff in Tuesday's runoff race.
"We will mobilize every available resource and exhaust every legal recourse to ensure all legally cast ballots are properly counted," Perdue's campaign said in a statement. "We believe in the end, Sen. Perdue will be victorious."
They also claimed the race between the international businessman and his 33-year-old rival was "exceptionally close" and "will require time and transparency to be certain the results are fair and accurate and the voices of Georgians are heard."
The problem is, the results weren't all that close. In fact, when the Associated Press called the race on Wednesday afternoon, Ossoff was leading Perdue by 0.6 percentage points. It's a slim margin but not big enough to trigger an automatic taxpayer-funded recount in the state.
Not all military and absentee ballots have been counted, but they are not expected to swing the election in Perdue's favor.
It is not clear what Perdue's next steps will be, and his media team, aside from putting out the statement, isn't responding to calls, texts, or emails.
The Perdue-Ossoff matchup was one of two in the Peach State. The other race pitted Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler against Raphael Warnock. The Ossoff and Warnock wins will put Democrats in control of both chambers of Congress and in the White House — something that hasn't happened in more than a decade.
Their wins came on the same day as protesters supporting President Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol and attempted to stop lawmakers from certifying the election results for Biden.
Trump and Biden stumped for their respective candidates in Georgia on Monday, underscoring the importance of the runoffs.
While both men urged voters to cast their ballots, Trump continued to attack the integrity of Georgia's election system. He has long lamented that he won the state despite three tallies proving otherwise. Trump has also lashed out at Republican leaders in the state for not calling a special legislative session to overturn the results.
On Wednesday, he once again tweeted that the election was "rigged," but he publicly praised Perdue as a "great guy."
In private, he was singing a different tune, New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman said.
"The president was telling people today that he was happy Loeffler and Perdue lost, according to a person familiar with the conversations," she tweeted. "He said they didn't defend him enough."
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The Washington Examiner spoke to 10 Atlanta-area residents on Thursday who said they were ready to see Trump and Perdue go.
Asked what she'd say to Perdue if she had the opportunity, Chrissy Anthony replied, "You lost. Why are you dragging it out?"
"He needs to stay in his bunker or wherever he's hiding out," she added.
Perdue, one of Trump's strongest supporters, attended events and often campaigned maskless.
His campaign announced with less than a week to go before the crucial runoffs that he and his wife would be in quarantine after being in close contact with someone who had tested positive for COVID-19.
