ATLANTA — The leading Democrat in Georgia’s crowded Senate special election had sharp words for appointed Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler after she was photographed at events linked to the White House’s coronavirus outbreak.
“The People’s House has become a hot spot,” Rev. Raphael Warnock told reporters Thursday after President Trump revealed he, too, had contracted COVID-19.
The senior pastor at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Ebenezer Baptist Church described images of Loeffler celebrating Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Judge Amy Coney Barrett, in the White House’s Rose Garden and Diplomatic Room as “concerning.”
“She says she’s 100% with Donald Trump. I think the people of Georgia need somebody who will be 100% with them,” he said.
A spokesman for Loeffler’s campaign didn’t immediately respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment. Loeffler has temporarily filled retired Sen. Johnny Isakson’s seat since January.
Warnock also knocked Loeffler for a tweet she posted with a doctored video of Trump crash-tackling and beating up a stand-in for the virus.
“COVID stood NO chance against @realDonaldTrump!” she wrote.
COVID stood NO chance against @realDonaldTrump! pic.twitter.com/GtNPOHkDqF
— Kelly Loeffler (@KLoeffler) October 5, 2020
The original video is a staged takedown of World Wrestling Entertainment CEO Vince McMahon shot in 2007.
Warnock reminded reporters on Thursday that more than 7,000 Georgians have died so far from the virus.
“It’s not a joke. It’s something to be taken seriously,” he said. “The people of Georgia would be well served to have a senator who’s focused on their health and their well-being.”
Loeffler has an average lead of 2.5 percentage points on the 20 other contenders vying for the last two years of Isakson’s term, according to RealClearPolitics.
Republican Rep. Doug Collins and Warnock are her closest competitors. The special election will likely spill over to a Jan. 5 runoff if no one on the ballot captures 50% of the vote on Nov. 3.
