Stumping on the eve of the Georgia Senate runoffs, President Donald Trump talked about his own election fight, emphatically insisting 'I don't concede" at what may well be the final consequential campaign rally of his presidency.
In Dalton, Ga., on Monday night, Trump told a raucous crowd: "There is no way we lost Georgia."
"That was a rigged election," he said, "but we are still fighting it, and you're going to see what will happen.
"I had two elections," he added. "I won both of them. It's amazing. I did much better on the second one."
The House and Senate will weigh the Electoral College votes in a joint session of Congress on Wednesday. Some Republicans in both chambers are planning to contest the certification of votes in a number of battleground states, including Georgia, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, and Michigan.
"Can't let it happen – nothing and no one will be able to stop them," Trump said of losing the Senate, which is what brought him to Georgia ahead of the key runoff races that'll decide which party controls the chamber.
At the same time, though, he seemed to refererencing his own race against Joe Biden, who Trump claims benefited from rampant and systemic voter fraud.
"The Senate seats are the last line of defense. I must preface, because they will say, 'He just conceded.'
"No, no, I don't think so. I don't concede."
Before the Electoral College drama expected to play out for hours on Wednesday, incumbent Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, both R-Ga., face stiff challenges Tuesday by Democrats Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff. The races have taken on huge significance, in that they'll ultimately determine whether Dems or Republicans hold chamber control.
Republicans have already clinched at least a tie with 50 seats, so winning just one will keep majority control in the hands of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
But if Dems can win both races, the two parties will be tied for seats. With Biden currently considered winner of the Electoral College and poised to take office on Jan. 20, his running mate, Kamala Harris, will become the Senate's tie-breaking vote, swinging power toward the Dem side of the aisle.
"I have to tell you the stakes of this election could not be higher," Trump said. "You vote [Tuesday]. People want to go out. They don't want to do the ballot thing, unless it's the other side. They want to go and vote. Make sure your vote is counted. Don't let them say, 'I'm sorry, someone else voted for you.'
"The radical Democrats are trying to capture Georgia Senate seats, so they will have absolute power over every aspect of your lives, if the liberal Democrats take the Senate and the White House.
"And they are not taking this White House. We will fight like h*ll. I will tell you right now."
Trump railed against courts refusing to take the campaign election cases, particularly when they did so by declaring they had no standing to even look at his camp's evidence.
"I'm not happy with the Supreme Court," Trump said. "They're not stepping up. I'm not happy with them."
Loeffler announced she is joining the Senate GOP fight against certifying the Electoral College vote for Biden.
"I have an announcement, Georgia," she told the rally. "On Jan. 6, I will object to the Electoral College vote. We will get this done, Georgia.
"I have a very important question for you: Are you ready to show America that Georgia is a red state?
"That's right. That's right. This president fought for us. We are fighting for him. He put America first. He put the American worker first. Thanks, Mr. President. He stood with our men and women of law enforcement and restored our military."
The electoral challenge is considered by observers and political experts to face very long odds of resulting in any flip from a Biden win; Dems control the House, and though Republicans currently hold the Senate, enough have declined to sign onto the Biden challenge to raise doubts about any vote favoring Trump's camp. (The president has blasted those Republicans who have not lined up on his side.)
Nonetheless, after brief addresses from Loeffler and first daughter Ivanka Trump, Trump returned to the mic to implore supporters to vote to stop the "steal."
"Our entire nation is counting on the people of Georgia – in a way the world is counting on the people of Georgia," Trump said. "The fate of our country is at stake. It's in your hands.
"You must deliver a Republican victory so big that the Democrats can't steal it or cheat it away. They will be trying. I will tell you that.
"We have all seen what our opponents are capable of doing. I ran two elections. I won both of them – second one much more successful than the first. But we can't let this happen any longer."
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