Attorneys Gen. Landry & Rutledge: Georgia Senate race puts support for law enforcement on ballot

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We’ve joined many of our Republican attorney general colleagues from around the country for months in loudly denouncing the radical "defund the police" movement, which would bring lawlessness to our streets and endanger our families. 

Tragically, Democratic Party liberal activists and leaders — including some supporting the two Democratic candidates in run-off elections for U.S. Senate seats in Georgia, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock — continue to indirectly lend their support to this dangerous movement.

Warnock and Ossoff are seeking to unseat Republican Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue in runoff elections Tuesday.

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As the chief law enforcement officers in our home states of Louisiana and Arkansas, we know firsthand the importance of well-funded and well-trained law enforcement agencies that receive respect and cooperation from the communities they serve.
 

Raphael Warnock (left) and Jon Ossoff (right) are the Democratic candidates in the Jan. 5 Senate runoff elections in Georgia.  (Getty Images // AP)

By late summer, polling showed the Democrats’ initial reaction — to embrace and echo the loudest voices within the "defund the police" movement — was politically unwise. Many independent voters found the movement too radical, and winning support from those voters was necessary for Democrats to win elections. This was especially true in a swing state like Georgia. 

Cue the backpedaling and double-talk by Democrats ahead of the November elections. Their angry cries to "defund the police" became "reimagine policing" and "reallocating resources." This was a change in language to hide the real motives of Democrats.

In Georgia we’ve seen Democratic candidates Warnock and Ossoff try to hide the support of many Democrats for slashing police budgets and radically transforming law enforcement. But we know the truth.

For example, Warnock has endorsed ending cash bail and allowing many criminals back on the streets. He said in a 2015 sermon: "Police power showing up in a kind of gangster and thug mentality you know you can wear all kinds of colors and be a thug, you can sometimes wear the colors of the state and behave like a thug."
 

Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler are the Republican Senate candidates in Georgia.

Warnock has tried to claim he wasn’t talking about all police officers, but his words show he won’t support the police.

 Ossoff also let the mask drop when he said back in June: "You have to have national standards for use of force, and yeah, you’ve got to be able to hold individual officers and entire departments accountable."

When Ossoff says "accountable," he means cutting funding if a police department doesn’t give in to the reforms proposed by Democrats. 

Just recently, Joe Biden said: "I also don’t think we should get too far ahead of ourselves on dealing with police reform in that, because they’ve already labeled us as being ‘defund the police’ …  Anything we put forward in terms of the organizational structure to change policing — which I promise you, will occur. Promise you. Just think to yourself and give me advice whether we should do that before Jan. 5."

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It has become clear that it is up to Georgia to decide if we will prevent our police forces’ slow destruction. Democrats may not defund the police immediately because of public outcry, but clearly, these politicians support dangerous structural reforms. 

Raising taxes, enforcing burdensome regulations, and dismantling law enforcement are the top priorities for lawless liberal Democrats if they manage to gain control the Senate with victories Tuesday by Ossoff and Warnock. Voters in Georgia have a chance to draw a line in the sand now and stop Democrats in their tracks before it is too late. 

Electing Sens. Loeffler and Perdue is crucial to prevent Democrats from passing their left-wing agenda that will stifle American innovation, freedom and security. Eleven Georgia sheriffs have endorsed Loeffler. Perdue has the support of the Georgia Fraternal Order of Police. Both Republicans have the trust of our men and women in uniform who know the two Republican senators won’t let them down.

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The left is blatantly attacking our values. As Loeffler said during a recent interview, Georgia "is the firewall against socialism in this country." She is right. That makes the Georgia Senate runoffs is arguably the most consequential elections of our lifetime.

Georgia voters must hold the line alongside us to prevent a Democratic-run lawless, socialist, and jobless America. If all fails, Republican attorneys general will be the only elected Republican officials charging to the frontlines in order to save and defend America from a disastrous Democratic takeover. 

Leslie Rutledge is the attorney general of Arkansas.