ATLANTA — Republicans began playing the blame game Tuesday night before final results were even in as their two Senate candidates appeared to fall behind Democrats in some key counties in Georgia.
Republican Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, a vocal critic of President Trump, lashed out Tuesday after early data suggested lower-than-expected GOP turnout in some of the state's conservative strongholds.
"Too many folks in our party over the last two months have been talking about misinformation, election fraud, and creating a distraction," Duncan told ABC.
He added: "We've been outworked, outfocused, but my hope is that Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue's hard work over the last two months is going to get them across the finish line and help us kind of regroup as a party here in the state and also as a country."
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Republican Georgia election official Gabriel Sterling echoed Duncan, telling CNN that if the GOP incumbents were unseated, the blame "will fall squarely on the shoulders of President Trump and his actions since Nov. 3."
Duncan's and Sterling's concerns contrast with confidence expressed by sources inside the Republican campaigns.
A source close to Loeffler, who was appointed in January to replace retired Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson temporarily, told Fox News she was “cautiously optimistic" that Loeffler would become Georgia's first elected female senator after polls closed at 7 p.m.
During remarks at what was supposed to be a Republican victory party, Loeffler didn't admit defeat. Instead, she insisted she still had "a path to victory, and we’re staying on it.”
“This is a game of inches,” she said. “We’re gonna win this election.”
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Trump, meanwhile, has signaled he'll undermine the Jan. 5 tallies. Similar to Nov. 3, the large number of early and mail-in ballots led to waves of votes being reported throughout the night.
"Looks like they are setting up a big 'voter dump' against the Republican candidates. Waiting to see how many votes they need?" the president tweeted.
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He went on: "Just happened to have found another 4000 ballots from Fulton County. Here we go!"
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Going into Election Day, Loeffler was essentially tied with Democratic challenger Rev. Raphael Warnock. Perdue was also neck and neck with his Democratic rival, filmmaker Jon Ossoff. If the Democrats win both races, the party will control the Senate for the next two years thanks to Vice President-elect Kamala Harris's tiebreaking vote.
As of 12:54 a.m., Warnock had 50.4% of the vote to Loeffler's 49.6%, with 97% of precincts reporting. Perdue was in a dead heat with Ossoff, with 50% apiece and 97% of precincts reporting.
