Sunday’s news that President Donald Trump had aggressively pressured Georgia’s secretary of state to overturn the will of the voters in predominantly Black counties by simply “recalculating to find 11,780” votes in his favor served as the backdrop for President-elect Joe Biden’s and Trump’s visit to the Peach State ahead of Tuesday’s critical Senate runoff elections.
“Black voters in Georgia made a clear choice in November, and the president’s charges are undemocratic and wholly unacceptable. The NAACP will not stand for it,” NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson said in a statement Monday.
Johnson urged supporters of Democratic candidates Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock that there are less than 48 hours before voters head to the polls.
“And we’re faced with a painful truth: Georgia’s election is rife with racial biases and voter suppressions,” Johnson said. “There are political actors and officials who have tried suppressing Black voters through lawsuits, reducing ballot drop boxes, and spreading misinformation.
“Our organizers are on the ground working around the clock to ensure that every eligible Black voter can cast their ballot safely and securely,” he said. “But we can’t do it without support from folks like you.”
The email echoes that of other top Democrats, including Biden, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and former President Barack Obama. Each has asked for donations to help Ossoff and Warnock and to assist efforts to fight voter suppression.
“Every contribution you make translates into a few more undecided voters that the Ossoff and Warnock campaigns can reach in the final 48 hours and tilt this election in our favor,” the Biden transition team wrote in an email.
The team noted that the November presidential election contest in Georgia was decided in Biden’s favor by less than 12,000 votes — a relatively thin margin.
On Sunday, The Washington Post released audio from a one-hour telephone call that Trump and his team members had with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his attorney, Ryan Germany, during which Trump implored Raffensperger and Germany to “find me 11,780” votes.
Trump also falsely claimed that there were illegal ballots cast in predominate Black Atlanta and Clark County.
Many politicians and veteran journalists said the call is worse than Richard Nixon’s Watergate scandal that led to his resignation.
“The audiotape of Trump with the Georgia secretary of state. Wow,” revered news anchor Dan Rather tweeted. “It’s like telling the Nixon tapes to ‘hold my beer.’”
Nonetheless, Biden arrived in Georgia, and his team noted that Republican super PACs are actively pouring tens of millions of dollars into advertising.
“Now with a race this close, Senate control on the line, and Election Day just two days away, we have to make sure we have one last big surge of grassroots donations in Georgia,” the president-elect’s team wrote in the email. “Every contribution you make translates into a few more undecided voters that the Ossoff and Warnock campaigns can reach in the final 48 hours and tilt this election in our favor.”
In his email, Obama asked supporters to contribute $10 to the Ossoff and Warnock campaigns.
“Together, we elected Joe Biden and Kamala Harris,” Obama wrote. “And because of that, you showed what America can be. I know how tempting it is to bask in the glory of those victories, but we can’t let up just yet.”
