Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, took aim at other Republicans for failing to condemn death threats he and his family have faced following the battleground state’s hand recount affirming President-elect Joe Biden’s election victory.
President Trump’s allies — which include Sens. David Perdue (R-GA), and Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) — attempted to pressure Raffensperger into resigning amid Trump’s baseless claims of widespread voter fraud. Raffensperger also accused Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) of demanding that he disregard all absentee ballots in counties where there was a high rate of signature-matching rejections.
In a Washington Post report published Saturday night, Raffensperger maintained that it’s his job as Georgia’s secretary of state to follow the law.
“People made wild accusations about the voting systems that we have in Georgia,” Raffensperger told the Post, referring to a Trump-touted bogus conspiracy theory alleging that machines made by Dominion Voting Systems were programmed to hand Biden more votes. “They were asking, ‘How do we get to 270? How do you get it to Congress so they can make a determination?’”
After telling the Post that he’s “not supposed to put my thumb on the Republican side,” the Georgia secretary of state argued that fellow Republicans are only harming themselves by feeding into unfounded allegations that are an attempt to delegitimize the election process, which Raffensperger warned could discourage Republicans from voting in the Senate runoffs.
“People need to get a grip on reality,” Raffensperger told the Post.
Raffensperger then reiterated that not only is he facing threats, but his family has taken the brunt as well. Raffensperger told the Post that he and his wife have received many threats over the past few weeks and that there was a break-in at another relative’s home, which prompted him to accept a state security detail.
Raffensperger bluntly called out Republicans who’ve failed to condemn threats to his family’s safety.
“If Republicans don’t start condemning this stuff, then I think they’re really complicit in it,” Raffensperger told the Post. “It’s time to stand up and be counted. Are you going to stand for righteousness? Are you going to stand for integrity? Or are you going to stand for the wild mob? You wanted to condemn the wild mob when it’s on the left side. What are you going to do when it’s on our side?”
