U.S. Senate Candidate Attacks Democrats, Republican Opponent

In a rapid-fire presentation to Oconee County Republicans on Monday evening, U.S. Senate candidate Doug Collins attacked former Democratic presidential candidates Beto O’Rourke and Bernie Sanders, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, and Democrats in general.

He also attacked Kelly Loeffler, his most prominent Republican rival in the special election to fill the unexpired seat of Johnny Isakson, saying “she has tried to smear me to make you think that I’m not a conservative.”

Collins praised local Republicans for their enthusiasm, urged those present to vote and get others to vote for him, praised president Donald Trump, and predicted a victory for the president and Republicans generally on Tuesday.

Collins was the last of the six Republicans candidates to speak to Oconee County Republicans, with Loeffler having spoken in May, Wayne Johnson in June, Annette Davis Jackson in August, and Kandiss Taylor and Derrick Grayson in September.

Twenty names are on the ballot in the nonprimaried special election, with eight of them running as Democrats. Another candidate has qualified as a write-in candidate.

Oconee County Democrats have heard from four of those Democrats: Matt Lieberman, Ed Tarver, Raphael Warnock, and Richard Dien Winfield.

Names are listed alphabetically on the ballot, and Collins told those gathered at the Republican Party meeting on Monday night to remember that his was the third on the list.

As of the end of the day on Tuesday, 13,042 Oconee County voters had cast their ballots at in-person voting at the Civic Center, and another 5,067 absentee ballots have been received, for a total of 18,109 votes cast.

For more on this story, with a video of the party meeting on Monday, please go to Oconee County Observations.