Trump may cost Republicans Georgia senate seats, GOP pollster says

The president’s allys have called for voters to boycott the Georgia runoffs

Donald Trump is putting the runoff elections in Georgia that will determine the fate of the Senate at risk, according to a Republican pollster.  

Frank Luntz, a communications consultant who frequently works for Republicans, said Mr Trump's repeated attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election could cost GOP incumbent Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue their seats.  

The Republican senators face challenges from Democrats Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff.  

If both incumbents lose, the Democrats will take control of the Senate.  

Mr Luntz noted that the president has planned rallies to support the Republican senators, but he believes it may be too late to reverse the damage he has caused.  

"I’m afraid and I believe that those two Republicans may well lose on the fifth of January because of what the president is doing right now," Mr Luntz told Fox News. "The media is helping him and this should not be happening, that that election should be waged separately from the ugliness that’s happening here in Washington."

On Sunday, Mr Trump said he would fly to Georgia to attend a rally for the Republican senators.

"On behalf of two GREAT Senators, I will be going to Georgia on Monday night, January 4th., to have a big and wonderful RALLY," he tweeted. "So important for our Country that they win."

However, Republican voters in the state have been receiving mixed messages from GOP-adjacent sources.  

Lawyers Lin Wood and Sidney Powell have taken on the president's crusade to overturn the election results. However, it has become increasingly clear that their allegiance lies with Mr Trump, not the Republican party, as both Mr Wood and Ms Powell have told voters to boycott Georgia's runoff elections.

Mr Wood has called the GOP incumbents "China compromised" and "anti-Trump RINOs (Republicans in name only)" who he claims committed election fraud against the president.  

He has called for a "GOP boycott of Kemp's rigged runoff" which will somehow save "President Trump's second term" and called for the arrests of the state's governor, Brian Kemp, as well as Ms Loeffler and Mr Perdue.  

Ms Powell appeared alongside Mr Wood at a rally in Georgia on 2 December in which she also called for Georgians to boycott the election.  

“There should not be a runoff, certainly not on Dominion machines,” she said. “I would encourage all Georgians to make it known that you will not vote at all until your vote is secure. I mean that regardless of party. We can’t live in a free republic unless we know our votes are legal and secure.”  

Ms Powell now faces legal action from Dominion Voting Systems for defamation.

"Your reckless disinformation campaign is predicated on lies that have endangered Dominion's business and the lives of its employees," the company wrote in a letter to Ms Powell. "…Your outlandish accusations are demonstrably false. While soliciting people to send you 'millions of dollars' and holding yourself out as a beacon of truth, you have purposely avoided naming Dominion as a defendant in your sham litigation -- effectively denying Dominion the opportunity to disprove your false accusations in court."  

The run-off elections are scheduled for 5 January.