2020 Georgia Senate #2 January 5 Runoff Election Candidate Guide
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AFFORDABLE CARE ACT – Support Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare?
Kelly Loeffler – No. Supports lawsuit to end ACA. Calls Medicare for All insidious attack on liberty.
Raphael Warnock – Yes. Would “protect, improve, and build upon the Affordable Care Act.”
CLIMATE CHANGE – Is human-caused climate change a serious threat? Address as a top priority by taxing or limiting output of greenhouse gases?
Kelly Loeffler – No climate change position found. Her company previously lobbied for cap and trade when they’d likely have gotten contracts to administer it.
Raphael Warnock – Yes. It “is not something that is coming, it is here. It is way past time for all of us to get serious.” “Set goals for carbon reduction and robust climate standards for newly manufactured cars and infrastructure.”
COURT—SUPREME COURT – Pick Ruth Bader Ginsburg replacement before November election? See CEEP Supreme Court guide.
Kelly Loeffler – Before. “Our country’s future is at stake and Trump has every right to pick a new justice before the election.”
Raphael Warnock – Wait. “The voices of the people that [Ginsburg] stood up for time and time again ought to be heard before there is a vote.”
COVID-19 – Support administration’s response to coronavirus pandemic?
Kelly Loeffler – Yes. “Trump and his administration have taken the threat of COVID-19 seriously from the beginning.” Senate and Justice Department cleared Loeffler of insider trading following early COVID briefings.
Raphael Warnock – No. Both Trump and Georgia Governor Kemp have stumbled on pandemic response. “We need leadership that believes in science and will act with integrity.”
COVID-19 – Economic response to coronavirus pandemic?
Kelly Loeffler – Introduced bills to protect reopening businesses from liability if employees or customers are infected, to make stop-gap “short-term health plans a permanent solution,” and to get U.S. medical supply companies to relocate from China to U.S.
Raphael Warnock – Will better support “those who have been hit hardest by the pandemic … working to fund unemployment and other systems,” ensuring that small businesses are not left out of relief programs.
EDUCATION – Public funding for private or for-profit schools?
Kelly Loeffler – Yes. Let states send federal funds for low-income students to both public and private schools.
Raphael Warnock – No position found.
ELECTIONS – Support Texas lawsuit to overturn election results in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin?
Kelly Loeffler – Supports. “We fully support President Trump’s legal recourses and Attorney General Paxton’s lawsuit…. any illegal vote submitted cannot be counted.”
Raphael Warnock – Opposes. “Donald Trump and @KLoeffler are trying to overturn a free and fair election and undo the will of Georgia voters.”
ENVIRONMENT – Tighten or loosen environmental regulations?
Kelly Loeffler – Unclear, but general anti-regulatory stance. Wants to “look at what we’re doing with regard to the economy and the environment collectively.”
Raphael Warnock – Tighten. “Environmental justice is on the ballot.” Nothing is “more important than honoring and protecting the only home we’ve been blessed with.”
FINANCIAL REGULATION – Tighten or loosen regulation of banks and credit card companies?
Kelly Loeffler – Loosen. Co-sponsored bills to eliminate “unnecessary” regulations, and to delay banking regulations. “Phase out all federal regulations that have been waived during the COVID-19 crisis.”
Raphael Warnock – No position found.
GUN RULES – Enact more restrictive legislation on guns?
Kelly Loeffler – No. “Strong Second Amendment supporter.” Sponsored bill barring national firearm database.
Raphael Warnock – Yes. “The answer to America’s gun violence isn’t to encourage masses of people to carry guns.”
IMMIGRATION – Expand border walls? Reduce immigration?
Kelly Loeffler – Yes. Co-sponsored Asylum Abuse Reduction Act. Undocumented should not get free health care.
Raphael Warnock – No. Immigration is “desperately broken.” Cites Jesus as an “undocumented immigrant.”
IMMIGRATION – Create path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented residents, including DACA participants, or “dreamers” brought to the U.S. as children?
Kelly Loeffler – No. Wants to “hold illegal immigrants accountable.” Co-sponsored bills to stop states from issuing driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants and set fines for aliens in the U.S. improperly.
Raphael Warnock – Yes. “People need a dignified path to citizenship.” About DACA, “You have no right to celebrate the dream if you will not liberate the dreamers.”
IMPEACHMENT – Support calling witnesses and convicting Trump on impeachment charges?
Kelly Loeffler – No. “This impeachment sham is an attack on what was a free and fair election.” Advertises her “100% Trump voting record [as] the most conservative senator in America.”
Raphael Warnock – No position found.
LABOR – Support “right to work” laws, barring unions from mandating dues?
Kelly Loeffler – Yes. Co-sponsored National Right-to-Work Act, establishing right to work on a national basis.
Raphael Warnock – No. Supports “pay equity” with “honest wages, protected retirement, and fair overtime compensation.” Endorsed by Georgia AFL-CIO.
LEGAL ABORTION – Keep legal or ban?
Kelly Loeffler – Ban. “Unapologetically pro-life.” Has co-sponsored “four bills to protect the unborn.”
Raphael Warnock – Legal. Supports “a woman’s right to choose …, a decision between her and her doctor.”
LGBT RIGHTS – Protect against discrimination based on sexual orientation?
Kelly Loeffler – Not if it interferes with religious faith. “People of faith should be protected.”
Raphael Warnock – Yes. Will “protect members of the LGBTQ+ community from housing, financial, and employment discrimination.”
MARIJUANA – Legal or ban?
Kelly Loeffler – Ban. Is “concerned about the negative effects that legalizing marijuana would have.”
Raphael Warnock – Legal. Wants to decriminalize marijuana.
MINIMUM WAGE – Raise federal hourly minimum wage above current $7.25?
Kelly Loeffler – No position found.
Raphael Warnock – Yes. $7.25 an hour “is not a living wage.” Will “fight to raise the minimum to a livable wage.”
PLANNED PARENTHOOD – Allow receiving public funds for non-abortion-related health care?
Kelly Loeffler – No. Called for investigating Planned Parenthood for receiving taxpayer funds under the Paycheck Protection Program.
Raphael Warnock – Yes. Opposes “all partisan attacks defunding health care providers like Planned Parenthood.”
POLICE/COMMUNITY – Restrict police use of force and increase public oversight?
Kelly Loeffler – No. Co-sponsored resolutions supporting “Back the Blue” and opposing calls to defund. Critics failing “to support law enforcement at a time when they need it most.”
Raphael Warnock – Yes. Wants increased accountability and bias training and a uniform standard for the use of force. Does not support defunding.
STUDENT FINANCIAL AID – Support lower interest or forgiveness on student loans?
Kelly Loeffler – No position found.
Raphael Warnock -Yes. Work to fully fund Pell Grants and strengthen loan forgiveness programs to ensure graduates can pay their loans.
VOTING RIGHTS – Support stricter ID requirements and other rules on voting?
Kelly Loeffler – Yes. Introduced bill to raise penalties for voter fraud and illegal ballot harvesting.
Raphael Warnock – No. Supports restoring oversight provisions of Voting Rights Act, which made voting restrictions harder to enact.
Campus Election Engagement Project is a nonpartisan effort to help colleges engage students in elections. Sources include Votesmart.org, FactCheck.org, Politifact.com and candidate statements. Vote411.org and Ballotready.org offer guides to local races.
