Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel slammed prominent Democrats on Thursday for their "desperate rhetoric" claiming Brian Kemp is stealing the Georgia governor's race.
Former and future possible Democratic presidential contenders have blasted the drawn-out contest between Kemp and Democrat Stacey Abrams, who trails him by nearly 55,000 votes and is trying to force a runoff with lawsuits seeking certification deadline delays and the counting of discounted ballots.
Hillary Clinton declared the election was not "fair" or else Abrams would already have won. Abrams' campaign and its allies have repeatedly accused Kemp, the former Georgia secretary of state, of illicit tactics and this week called him "the nation's foremost architect of voter suppression."
"If she had a fair election, she already would have won," Clinton said Tuesday night while accepting an award at the University of Texas in Austin.
Sen. Cory Booker (D., N.J.) declared Tuesday that Abrams' victory "is being stolen from her," while Sen. Sherrod Brown (D., Ohio) said if Abrams doesn't win, "they stole it. It's clear."
"I think that Stacey Abrams’ election is being stolen from her, using what I think are insidious measures to disenfranchise certain groups of people," Booker said at Yahoo Finance's All Markets Summit on Tuesday.
"If Stacey Abrams doesn't win in Georgia, they stole it," Brown said at the National Action Network. "It's clear. I say that publicly. It's clear."
McDaniel told the Washington Free Beacon in a statement that Kemp is "Georgia's next governor" and it was clearly over.
"No one’s falling for the desperate rhetoric from Democrats like Hillary Clinton and Cory Booker. Stacey Abrams clearly lost this race, and all of the political stunts in the world won’t change that Brian Kemp is Georgia’s next governor," McDaniel said.
She also tweeted out the remarks by Booker, Brown, and Clinton on Wednesday, wryly writing, "I guess the lack of media outrage means losing graciously is only for Republicans."
Sherrod Brown: 'If Stacey Abrams doesn’t win in GA, they stole it"
Hillary Clinton: 'If she had a fair election, she already would have won"
Cory Booker: 'Abrams’ election is being stolen"
I guess the lack of media outrage means losing graciously is only for Republicans
— Ronna McDaniel (@GOPChairwoman) November 14, 2018
Kemp has already declared victory and called on Abrams to concede. His campaign said Wednesday night "the election is over," but Abrams has refused to quit. She needs to net nearly 18,000 votes as of Wednesday night to get Kemp below the 50-percent threshold and force a runoff on Dec. 4.