MARIETTA, Ga. — Georgia's two Republican U.S. Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue kicked off their runoff election campaigns on Wednesday at a noisy, crowded party event in Marietta.
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R - Fla.) stumped for the two Georgia senators at the event, the first for the two lawmakers angling toward the Jan. 5 runoff, which will ultimately determine which party controls the Senate.
Republican supporters eagerly lined up to get a taste of the campaign, which some have described in near-apocalyptic terms.
"If we lose control of (the Senate) then we’ve lost America," said Paulding County Republican Jim Tully, who was waiting in line to get into the event. "America will slide into socialism into communism into ruin. Despair for all."
Rubio is the first of what promises to be a succession of political celebrity appearances from both parties in the weeks leading up to the runoff election.
"This is Georgia’s decision to make, but it’s America that will live with the consequences of the decision they make here," Rubio said at the event.
The crowd was packed into the mask-optional event at an indoor venue.
"We are going to lock arms and deliver this country," Loeffler told the crowd. "We are going to deliver the American dream. The road to socialism does not run through Georgia."
She faces Democrat Raphael Warnock in one of the two Senate runoff elections.
Wednesday's event took place in Cobb County, which Democratic voters flipped in last week's election. Loeffler hopes Republicans will make a strong showing in the January runoff.
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The event came against a backdrop of Republican suspicion about the election's results that appear to have unseated President Donald Trump. The margin of the results have all but assured a recount in Georgia.
Cherokee County Republican Lydia Green Davidson said she was among the election's skeptics.
Davidson was entering an SUV, brightly decorated with Trump slogans following the event's conclusion.
"I’m actually going to go with my friend in a few minutes to some cemeteries and find out if those people voted in Fulton County," Davidson said. "I’m not joking."