Georgia Senate candidates Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock have framed themselves as moderates to appeal to the traditionally red state of Georgia. But you can tell their true intentions by their policies and their friends, including Bernie Sanders. Georgia voters deserve to know the truth.
The media has portrayed both Ossoff’s and Warnock’s positions as moderate, and both candidates seek to steer the conversation away from the left’s hallmark initiatives like Medicare for All and the Green New Deal. But their platforms share far more in common with Sanders than with Zell Miller or Sam Nunn. Their stated policies reveal that their true goals will work against Georgia voters.
One of America’s greatest successes in recent years is becoming the world’s top energy producer. But the liberal energy policies of these candidates and other Democrats would destroy that progress and dramatically increase the cost of our gas and of heating our homes in the winter. While Ossoff claims to oppose the Green New Deal, he supports most of its major tenets, according to the liberal New Republic. And Bernie Sanders has campaigned for Warnock on the grounds that he is needed in the Senate to pass the Green New Deal. Analysis from the Heritage Foundation found that the Green New Deal would cost the United States more than one million jobs each year.
The extreme policies don’t stop there. Both candidates also plan to push the U.S. down the road to socialized medicine. Warnock refuses to tell voters what he believes about the disastrous plan known as Medicare for All, yet Sanders must know as he cites Warnock’s health care policies as a reason to support him. Both Ossoff and Warnock have stated they support universal health care, which means health care run by the government. That would threaten the health of the millions of Georgians who could lose access to their doctor, not to mention the jobs and salaries of the nearly 250,000 health care workers in Georgia.
Both candidates have failed to stand for the peace and security of our communities by refusing to sign a pledge saying they oppose the liberal mission to defund the police. Ossoff has said funding for police departments has to be “on the line,” threatening local budgets if they do not comply with national standards. Warnock infamously preached about the “gangster and thug mentality” of police officers in Ferguson. Neither candidate has denounced the Breathe Act, a new bill aiming to cut law enforcement funding nationwide.
So why is this race so important? This is not just about a normal election or about party politics. It is about extreme policies that endanger the paychecks, safety, and security of households across Georgia and America. It is also about the future of our government: Democrats have threatened to rig Senate rules, destroying the filibuster and packing the courts, ensuring that even unconstitutional socialist policies are rubber-stamped by a rigged court system.
That has never been done in the history of our country. Even Franklin Roosevelt, the architect of the New Deal, would not run this far. But now the Senate is on the verge of destroying our judicial system to push through policies the vast majority of people do not support and robbing people of their voice in these matters.
Georgia voters should go into the January runoffs with eyes wide open. They should consider the policies on the line and which America they want to see. Which candidates will offer a more prosperous, safe, and healthy America?
Jessica Anderson is the executive director of Heritage Action for America.
