Former President Barack Obama spelled out the importance of the Georgia runoff Senate elections in no uncertain terms on Monday.
“The stakes could not be higher,” Obama warned on social media, urging voters to help Democratic candidates Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock unseat Republican Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue in races that could determine which party controls the U.S. Senate.
“We’re seeing how far some will go to retain power and threaten the fundamental principles of our democracy,” wrote Obama. “But our democracy isn’t about any individual, even a president ― it’s about you.”
Obama encouraged voters in Georgia to respond “with the most powerful tool we have as Americans — your vote.”
If the Democratic challengers win both seats, the Senate will be split 50-50 and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris can cast tie-breaking votes.
Obama’s posts came as his successor, President Donald Trump, continued to deny the reality of his 2020 election loss to President-elect Joe Biden. Trump over the weekend pressured Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in a recorded telephone call to “find” enough votes to overturn the state’s results.
At a rally in Georgia on Monday night, Trump falsely railed against the “rigged” election and claimed without proof that “Democrats are trying to steal the White House, you cannot let them.”