New Senate GOP ad highlights Schumer’s boast of sweeping Georgia

‘Now we take Georgia, then we change America.’

Senate Republicans are trying to make sure Chuck Schumer’s boast about Georgia’s Jan. 5 runoffs comes back to haunt him.

A new ad released Wednesday features Florida U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, the next chairman of the Senate GOP campaign arm. But it really stars Schumer, the Senate’s top Democrat, whose eight-word vow bookends the 30-second spot: “Now we take Georgia, then we change America.”

Schumer was filmed making those remarks on Saturday in the afterglow of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. They play into longstanding GOP attacks in Georgia that Democrats are puppets of out-of-state interests who are too extreme for the state.

Scott, a potential presidential candidate who will soon chair the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said Schumer’s “change” would bring a vast overhaul to Washington if Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock prevail over U.S. Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue. The twin runoffs will likely determine control of the Senate.

“That’s Democrat leader Chuck Schumer. You heard him: they plan to take Georgia so they can change America. Their change: Reduce funding for police, eliminate employer-based health insurance, pack the Supreme Court, chip away at our religious freedom and gun rights.”

Scott closes: “Georgia, don’t let these radicals change America.”

The ad runs statewide for a week starting on Thursday. It doesn’t single out either Ossoff or Warnock, who oppose defunding the police and call for an expansion of healthcare access.