THOMASVILLE, Georgia — Before a small crowd gathered at the Thomas County, GA Republican Party headquarters on Sunday, former Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS), also the former chairman of the Republican National Committee, stressed the importance of Tuesday U.S. Senate runoff elections in Georgia between Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) and Democrat Raphael Warnock, and Sen. David Perdue (R-GA) and Democrat Jon Ossoff.
The veteran campaigner and politician declared the two U.S. Senate races to have higher stakes than any campaigns with which he had ever been involved.
“We’ve talked about campaigns that I’ve been involved in since 1968, and I will tell you sincerely, and without any hesitation, the stakes of this election are higher than any I’ve ever worked, including races for the presidency,” Barbour said. “Why? If you can imagine — 52 years in politics, how many times have I been asked the question: What do you worry about most about government and politics? And it is very simple — I worry my children and grandchildren are not going to inherit the same country I inherited. For the first time, I believe that could be actually happening because if you look at the left’s agenda — what they say publicly they want to do. I mean, they want to do away with the rules of the Senate that keep you from just having a simple majority to pass things. And they would pass the rules to end the filibuster and make the Senate like the House.”
“If you’ve got 50 Democrat Senators and 50 Republican Senators, the Democrat [vice president] could break the tie, and that’s it,” he continued. “That is not the way the system works that we have operated on for decades and decades and decades.”
Barbour said the consequences of Republican losses in both contests could impact the judiciary and policy profoundly.
“What is on their agenda? Well, pack the Supreme Court,” Barbour explained. “Add three more Supreme Court justices, to make Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico states — by a simple majority vote. They want to do that. Their agenda for energy is very plainly stated. They want a carbon-free economy. You know, a carbon-free economy — not gasoline cars, not natural gas cars. They want electricity to be generated in some way, through solar and that sort of stuff. If you look where it is actually happening in the United States — the volume is nowhere near what it takes in this country for energy generation.”
The former Mississippi governor reiterated his warnings about the high court and the end of the U.S. Senate filibuster, which would make it easier for Democrats to force through legislation. He suggested Republicans not rely on moderate Democrats, like Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), and opt to elect Loeffler and Perdue.
“This is high stakes,” he added. “And for whatever reason, it got dropped in Georgia’s lap. And it is literally going to be up to 5 million or so Georgia voters as to not whether we are going to keep the deal that we have had with the other states and the other people in the country for decades. Franklin Roosevelt tried to pack the Supreme Court in 1937 and failed. Otherwise, the Supreme Court, which by the way — the Constitution doesn’t say how many justices there are. It has been just by agreement for decades, and most of us think it ought to stay that way. There are some Democrats, just like Joe Manchin, who say they won’t get rid of the filibuster. But the way to make sure is to vote for Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue.”
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
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