One pandemic, two different worlds in Georgia runoff races

Kelly Loeffler, and her fellow Republican senator, David Perdue.

But in heavily Republican north Georgia, there were only scant mentions of the public health calamity that helped lead to President Donald Trump’s defeat: aid programs that passed Congress months ago and a vaccine that is still weeks — or months — from mass distribution.

For Republicans, the pandemic is secondary in a runoff blitz defined by dire warnings about what it would mean if Warnock defeats Loeffler and Perdue falls to Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff.

The messaging differences bleed over to the two sides’ public health protocols, as well.

But Perdue led Ossoff by about 100,000 votes, finishing just short of the outright majority Georgia requires to avoid a runoff.

As with the president’s October blitz of rallies, there’s no suggestion that his Georgia event will include social distancing or require masks, as recommended by public health officials.

Neither Perdue nor Loeffler echoes the president’s mockery of public health standards.

Rick Scott drew a similar throng to a restaurant in suburban Cumming for an event with both Georgia incumbents.

Days later, Scott said he had tested positive for COVID-19 and had been exposed the same day he traveled to Georgia.

“We’ve seen no real national public grieving because it is the kind of death that doesn’t show up in one fell swoop,” Warnock said in Reynolds, where he campaigned under an outdoor picnic canopy.

The president has spent weeks asserting baseless claims of voter fraud in Georgia and other battleground states Biden won, without Perdue disputing the claims.