Sens. David Perdue (R-GA) and Kelly Loeffler (R-GA), the two Republican incumbents running to defend their seats in the Georgia special election runoff in January, appeared to publicly acknowledge President Donald Trump’s defeat in an off-the-record Zoom call hosted by the Republican Jewish Coalition on Wednesday — as they emphasized the need for the GOP to maintain control of the Senate as a buffer to Biden’s domestic and foreign policy. 

“We know what this change of command at the top will mean with our foreign relations, and it gives us great pause about [the] U.S.-Israeli relationship — the progress we’ve made in the last couple of years,” Perdue said in his opening remarks, in audio obtained by Jewish Insider, referencing the recent peace accord between Israel and the UAE and Bahrain and the withdrawal from the nuclear deal with Iran. “This is historic and we don’t want to give that up. And so one of the things that is so much in play here is, if we can keep the majority in the Senate, we can at least be a buffer on some of the things that the Biden camp has been talking about in terms of their foreign policy.” 

“We really need to protect what we’ve done under President Trump these last four years, both in foreign policy, economic policy and so forth — and the only way to do that is to hold these two seats,” Perdue added. “And by the way, we can have a tempering impact on foreign policy. You’ve heard Biden talk about he wants to reinstate the JCPOA. Well, there are things that we can do in the Senate that can slow that down and actually have a tempering effect.”

The Republicans currently hold 52-48 majority in the Senate. If the two senators lose to their Democratic challengers, Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock, in the January 5 special Senate election, the Democrats will hold a working majority with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris as the tie-breaking vote.  

During the call, first reported by The Washington Post, Loeffler echoed her colleague’s sentiment by stressing the importance of a split government. “David and I are the firewall to stopping socialism in America, to stopping their bad policies,” she stressed. “If we don’t hold the line right now, we will never get another chance to change the country back — because they will abolish the filibuster, they’ll add D.C. statehood, pack the court, and on and on.” 

Trump is expected to hold a campaign rally in support of Perdue and Loeffler in Valdosta, Georgia, on Saturday. The president has refused to concede and continues to claim that the election was illegitimate.

Loeffler also suggested that Republicans will seek to stop some of Biden’s cabinet appointments during the confirmation hearings, and challenge them on their record during the Obama administration. “The work that has happened over the last four years, we have to preserve that — a strengthened Israel, a weakened Iran — we have to make sure that that continues,” she said. “And if they put up officials that have a track record of not standing with Israel, of doing the wrong thing with Iran, then we’re going to hold them accountable,” Loeffler continued. “We are going to see a lot of folks from the Obama administration come back, which is a great chance for us to review their records and hold them accountable for their track records which, in many cases, failed the U.S.-Israel relationship.” 

The pair did not discuss the possibility of a second Trump term, which would invalidate their narrative about serving as a buffer to a Biden administration. “This is our last chance. We won’t give it a second chance,” Perdue stressed on the call. 

Perdue also compared Trump to former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who was defeated in 1945 towards the end of World War II. “[Churchill] held the world together for a few years during World War II… [and] just before the end of the war, as the outcome was visible, his party was removed. And guess what he did for the next four years? He fought off communism in Great Britain,” Perdue explained. “And here we are in very similar circumstances. Kelly and I are up for this fight. We know this is a fight to the death about socialism. If we stop and hold the line right now, I believe we put a stop to this to radicalism that has somehow taken over for the Democratic Party.” 

RJC Executive Director told the Post, “A lot of the focus was on the risks associated with a Senate majority led by Chuck Schumer. Any inference that either of these two are not supportive of the president just isn’t true, and in fact they’re all going to be campaigning together in Georgia. Both Senator Perdue and Senator Loeffler strongly supports President Trump and President Trump supports them.”

Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) and Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA) are locked in an acrimonious battle ahead of the U.S. Senate special election in Georgia on November 3. Collins, who represents a portion of northeastern Georgia, entered the race to compete against Loeffler shortly after she assumed office in early January, having been appointed by Gov. Brian Kemp against the objections of President Donald Trump, who favored Collins for the seat.

But when it comes to Israel, the two Republican candidates hold virtually indistinguishable views, according to questionnaires solicited by Jewish Insider and filled out by the candidates. 

Loeffler and Collins both support a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, endorse Trump’s Middle East peace plan, back continued foreign aid to the Jewish state and believe that the administration was right to pull out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal brokered by former President Barack Obama.

“We knew from the beginning that any deal negotiated by the Obama Administration would not go far enough to keep Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon or to protect Israel from a nuclear Iran,” Collins wrote in response to questions from JI, echoing Loeffler, who said that Iran had “only become more emboldened in its efforts to attack U.S. interests and U.S. allies like Israel” during the time that the deal was in place.

(Read the Collins and Loeffler questionnaires, and many others, on Jewish Insider’s interactive election map.)

On the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Loeffler and Collins — both of whom have positioned themselves as Trump loyalists — hold harmonious views. 

“I agree with President Trump that, especially given Israel’s agreement to terms for a potential Palestinian state, a two-state solution is a pragmatic approach that respects the validity of Israel and its people while giving Palestinians the opportunity to self-govern and remain in their communities,” Collins wrote. “Within a two-state solution, it is imperative that Israel remain the ultimate guardian of holy sites and Jerusalem to ensure all who want to worship in these sacred places will continue to have the opportunity to do so. It is also imperative that, in any agreement, Israel has defensible borders to continue to protect themselves from any future attacks.”

The senator’s response was similar. “It has become increasingly clear that a two-state solution is the best path to peace in the Middle East, and I support President Trump’s historic efforts to deliver Israel the security and autonomy it needs to prosper,” she said. “Like President Trump, I believe that any path to peace must recognize undivided Jerusalem as the capital and territory of Israel.”

Loeffler added that “any Palestinian nation must be strictly policed to ensure that the violence perpetuated by Palestinians (especially through Hamas) comes to an end so that both the Palestinians and the Israeli people can fully prosper.”

Both candidates cited their records on the Hill supporting aid to Israel. Collins, for his part, pointed to legislation he introduced in 2013 to bolster Israel’s defense interests, while Loeffler noted that she was a co-sponsor of the United States-Israel Security Assistance Authorization Act, “which will send additional funds to Israel in order to upgrade its military equipment, improve its ground force, strengthen its missile defense system, and expand the U.S. weapons stockpile in Israel.”

The candidates also agree that there is a concerning rise of antisemitism in the U.S., but reserve judgement only for the Democratic Party. “Sadly, we have witnessed this rising tide of antisemitism in Congress over the last several years,” Collins said, “with a growing number of members in the Democratic Caucus voicing their support for the BDS movement, which attacks Israel’s very right to exist.”

Loeffler went a step further in her questionnaire, calling out Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) who, according to the senator, “has repeatedly called Israel evil and openly called for the dissolution of the nation state of Israel.” She was also critical of the Black Lives Matter movement, which, she wrote, “continually endorses the BDS movement and has called Israel an ‘apartheid state.’”

Loeffler and Collins are running in a competitive special election that includes two formidable Democratic opponents: Raphael Warnock, senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, and Matt Lieberman, son of former Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT). 

Should no candidate clear 50% of the vote on November 3, then the top two candidates will advance to a runoff to be held in January.