The president will hold a rally in Georgia on Monday
Credit: AFP
Donald Trump has pre-emptively declared two upcoming races in Georgia, which will determine control of the US Senate, to be "illegal and invalid".
The president’s extraordinary intervention came shortly before he was due to travel to Georgia in a high-profile effort to encourage supporters to go to the polls on Tuesday.
Senior Republicans feared his comments could undermine turnout by further spreading fears of voter fraud, potentially gifting the Senate to Democrats. Like Mr Trump, Joe Biden was due to hold a rally in Georgia on Monday.
In a lengthy Twitter post Mr Trump said the voting system in Georgia during the presidential election in November had been "unconstitutional". He lost by 12,000 votes out of five million cast.
The president added: "The State 2020 presidential election is therefore both illegal and invalid, and that would include the two current Senatorial Elections."
Mr Trump specifically cited a state "consent decree" which sets the standards for signatures on absentee ballot envelopes.
A recent SurveyUSA poll in Georgia found that 55 per cent of voters identifying as "very conservative" said they would not vote in the elections next week because they believed the process was "rigged".
The races are runoffs after no candidate in either contest reached 50 per cent on Nov 3.
Republicans currently hold the Senate 52-48. If they lose both runoffs the chamber will be split 50-50. The vice president, soon to be Kamala Harris, would hold a casting vote.
That would allow Mr Biden almost free legislative rein when he becomes president.
Republican candidates Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue
Credit: Reuters
As a result the runoffs have become by far the most expensive Senate races in American history,
By the time polling stations close more than $800 million was expected to have poured into Georgia, where the air waves have been saturated with political adverts for weeks.
The sitting Republican senators, David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, are being challenged respectively by Democrats Jon Ossoff, a 33-year-old former journalist, and Rev Raphael Warnock, the pastor of Martin Luther King Jr’s former church. Polls show both races to be on a knife edge.
Mr Perdue and Ms Loeffler have strongly backed Mr Trump, like the president refusing to acknowledge his election defeat, and hoping the enthusiasm of his supporters will get them over the line.
They have argued their Democrat opponents are "dangerous" and "radical" and that Georgia must "hold the line against socialism".
Michael McNeely, a former vice chair of the Georgia Republican Party, said: "The president resonates with a lot of people and so do the buzzwords. So you hear ‘Trump’ and ‘socialism’ a lot."
Mr Perdue was spending the end of the campaign in quarantine after potential exposure to the coronavirus.
But from his home he accused Mr Ossoff of failing to disclose business links to the Chinese Communist Party. Mr Ossoff denied that as "utter nonsense".
Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock
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The level of political donations arriving from around America has been staggering.
Between October and December Mr Ossoff raised $106 million, Mr Warnock $103 million, Mr Perdue $68 million, and Ms Loeffler $64 million.
That made them the four highest funded Senate candidates ever, with Mr Ossoff now holding the record.
However, outside Republican groups, including one run by strategist Karl Rove, were significantly outspending Democrat ones, splurging millions of dollars a day on TV adverts.
Mr Warnock and Mr Ossoff sent out final desperate emails to supporters appealing for more money.
Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate, said: "The Georgia senate races determine whether or not the Democrats will control the entire government.
"[Republicans] winning in Georgia guarantees that the new president will be a moderate — because he won’t have any choice."
Mr Trump later sought to address Republican concerns over his comments about the races being invalid.
He tweeted: "GET READY TO VOTE ON TUESDAY!!!"
Early voting ended on Thursday and three million Georgians have already cast ballots.
Stacey Abrams, the Democrat politician who has led voter registration efforts in the state, said: "We are pleased with the level of energy and excitement."
As in the presidential contest the Republicans candidates will have to, on election day, claw back a large Democrat lead in the ballots cast early.
The weather forecast for election day was good, which should benefit the Republican candidates.
Mr Biden was the first Democrat presidential candidate to win Georgia since 1992.
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