Sarah Palin returns to GOP campaign trail as she urges Republicans to ‘crush’ the vote in Georgia 

Former Alaska governor, Sarah Palin, has rejoined the GOP campaign trail and urged Republican voters in Georgia to ‘crush’ the vote for Sen David Perdue and Sen Kelly Loeffler. 

‘Georgia, we need you to not just show up January 5, not just to win, but to crush it,’ Palin told a crowd of supporters in Marietta, Georgia, on Friday as part of the Save America Tour. 

‘We need you to crush it and to send that message, the loudest message that we can. That no, we will not implement at all socialism in America. We will not watch that erosion of our inalienable rights,’ she continued. 

‘The eyes of America, the eyes of the world, are on Georgia,’ Palin, who was the late Sen John McCain’s running-mate in the 2008 presidential election, said.

Her appearance in Georgia marked the first event for the Save America Tour, which was organized by conservative group Club for Growth.

Former Alaska governor, Sarah Palin (pictured on Saturday in Cherokee County, Georgia), has rejoined the GOP campaign and urged Republican voters in Georgia to ‘crush’ the vote for Sen David Perdue and Sen Kelly Loeffler

For more than a decade, Palin has not held elected office. She has instead spent much of her time on television, from Sarah Palin’s Alaska, a reality TV show, to regular appearances on Fox News.  

Both Perdue and Loeffler face strong Democratic challengers in January 5 runoffs that will determine which party controls the Senate at the outset of Joe Biden’s presidency. 

The GOP needs one more seat for a majority. Democrats need Jon Ossoff to defeat Perdue and Raphael Warnock to defeat Loeffler to force a 50-50 Senate, positioning Vice President-elect Kamala Harris as the tie-breaking majority vote. 

Perdue and Loeffler have tried to placate President Donald Trump and his supporters by backing a lawsuit from Texas that sought to overturn Biden’s win but was rejected by the US Supreme Court on Friday, and by calling for Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to resign, citing unspecified ‘mismanagement’ in the election.

Nonetheless, they’ve faced pushback from hardcore Trump supporters. 

As the pair strained to speak at Trump’s rally in Valdosta, cries of ‘Fight for Trump’ filled the crowd, largely drowning out the senators.

Trump has relentlessly promoted false claims that the election was rigged against him and he has savaged Republican elected officials he perceives as standing in the way of his quest to subvert the results.

Some Trump allies have gone as far as calling for voters to skip the Georgia runoffs altogether — alarming words for the GOP campaigns banking on a strong turnout.

But interviews with voters and party activists in the state suggest there’s little sign that Trump’s voters are planning to stay home in protest. 

Most Republican voters interviewed said they were prepared to put their skepticism aside to vote for Perdue and Loeffler in their races against Ossoff and Warnock, respectively. 

Kelly Loeffler

David Perdue

The GOP needs one more seat for a majority. Democrats need Jon Ossoff to defeat David Perdue (right) and Raphael Warnock to defeat Kelly Loeffler (left) to force a 50-50 Senate, positioning Vice President-elect Kamala Harris as the tie-breaking majority vote

President Donald Trump's December 5 campaign stop in Valdosta, Georgia, was his first since he lost the state to Biden by about 11,700 votes. He was there to rally support for Loeffler (right) and Perdue (left)

President Donald Trump’s December 5 campaign stop in Valdosta, Georgia, was his first since he lost the state to Biden by about 11,700 votes. He was there to rally support for Loeffler (right) and Perdue (left)

The GOP needs one more seat for a majority. Democrats need Jon Ossoff to defeat Perdue and Raphael Warnock to defeat Loeffler to force a 50-50 Senate, positioning Vice President-elect Kamala Harris (pictured on December 11) as the tie-breaking majority vote

The GOP needs one more seat for a majority. Democrats need Jon Ossoff to defeat Perdue and Raphael Warnock to defeat Loeffler to force a 50-50 Senate, positioning Vice President-elect Kamala Harris (pictured on December 11) as the tie-breaking majority vote

‘There are people who are discouraged about (Trump) losing Georgia or being behind. But I haven’t talked to people who’ve said, ‘Oh, the heck with this, it’s all rigged anyway,” said Tim Phillips, president of the conservative group Americans for Prosperity, which has done canvassing of GOP-leaning voters.

Phillips was among those who worried that the distrust could affect Republican enthusiasm. But he said his group’s weeks in the field, combined with a recent visit from Trump, have eased his worries.

Trump’s December 5 campaign stop in Valdosta, Georgia, was his first since he lost the state to Biden by about 11,700 votes — a result that was confirmed by two recounts, including a hand tally of all ballots. 

But those recounts haven’t stopped the president from blasting Republican Gov Brian Kemp and Raffensperger.

Kemp has rebuffed Trump’s call for a special session of the legislature to subvert the election results, while Raffensperger has repeatedly said there is no evidence of systemic fraud or irregularities in the November election.

But Trump’s allies have continued to push false claims of fraud.

Sidney Powell, who was removed from Trump’s legal team last month, has teamed up with Georgia attorney Lin Wood, who is known for his representation of several high-profile clients, particularly in defamation cases. 

The lawyers have repeatedly encouraged Georgia Republicans not to vote in the runoff election and questioned whether Perdue and Loeffler have sufficiently backed Trump’s efforts.

‘Why would you go back and vote in another rigged election?’ Wood said during a recent rally in a suburb north of Atlanta.

Trump has asked his supporters to get out and vote. The ‘seats are the last line of defense to save America and protect all that we’ve accomplished,’ he said at the recent Georgia event. 

During the rally, Trump weaved back and forth between pressing his own grievances about the election and encouraging the crowd to turn out for Perdue and Loeffler.

‘You know a lot of people, friends of mine, say “Let’s not vote. We’re not going to vote because we’re angry about the presidential election,”‘ Trump told the crowd.

‘But if you do that, the radical left wins,’ he said.