Georgia Senate election: Loeffler and Perdue accused of photoshopping opponents in racist attack ads

‘There is no level she could stoop to that would surprise us,’ says Warnock’s campaign after ad manipulation by Loeffler

Republican senators in Georgia’s senate runoffs have been accused of airing racist attack adverts against their Democratic rivals.

Kelly Loefller, who faces Atlanta pastor and politician Raphael Warnock on Tuesday, aired two adverts on social media last week that darkened the Democratic candidate’s skin tone, Salon reported.

The adverts, which appeared on Facebook and are still active, appeared to show Mr Warnock with darker skin in two adverts titled "Too Radical. Too Corrupt" and "Beyond Radical Raphael”.

At least 100,000 Facebook users have seen the two adverts posted by Loefller, who spent 10 times more on the second advert, which appeared to show Mr Warnock with darker skin than the other – also seemingly photoshopped – attack advert.

"Raphael Warnock is a Radical Liberal" who "was educated by Marxists", says an advert, while the video with apparently darker skin says Mr Warnock “isn't just radical – he's dangerous".

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The revelations come after Ms Loefller appeared alongside an ex-Ku Klux Klan wizard and white supremacist, Chester Doles, while on the campaign trail. She claimed to have not known who he was, also condemning his racist ideology.  

Jon Ossoff, the second Democratic candidate in Tuesday’s senatorial runoffs, called out Ms Loeffler for being seen with Doles, and said on Twitter: “Kelly Loeffler has been campaigning with a Klansman”, in what turned into a spat between the pair.

On Tuesday, Mr Ossoff will face Republican senator David Perdue, whose campaign made the Jewish man’s nose appear bigger than it was, in an attack ad last summer.

“Sitting US Senator David Perdue’s digital attack ad distorted my face to enlarge and extend my nose. I’m Jewish. This is the oldest, most obvious, least original anti-Semitic trope in history,” Mr Ossoff said in a statement at the time.

The Republican senator removed the advert and blamed an “unintentional error”.

Responding to Ms Loefller’s recent attack adverts, a Warnock spokesperson told Salon on Monday: "Kelly Loeffler has run the single most negative campaign in Georgia history”.

“There is no level she could stoop to that would surprise us," said spokesperson Terrence Clark.

Georgia voters on Tuesday will decide between the Republican incumbents or the two Democratic challengers in two separate races, and in the process, whether or not Republicans continue to hold sway over the United States senate, and Joe Biden’s presidency.