Georgia’s election will define control of the United States Senate and the Puerto Rican population has already splashed

Washington dc – The control of the United States Senate – which will mark the presidency of Joe Biden, even on issues related to Puerto Rico – will be decided on Tuesday in two second rounds in Georgia that have rekindled interest in the Latino community state and has splashed the island.

Democrats Jon Ossoff, a documentary producer who in 2017 was on the verge of winning a seat in Congress, and the Rev. Raphael Warnock, pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta to which civil rights icon Martin was linked Luther King, are the challengers of Republican Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler.

In the general election, Perdue won 49.7% of the vote, compared to 47.9% for Ossoff. A third candidate from the Libertarian Party won 2.3%. Warnock, meanwhile, finished ahead in the first round with 32.9% of the vote.

In a contest with 21 candidates, Loeffler – who was named to replace ex-senator Johnny Isakson – was second with 25.9%.

After three million voters vote in advance, a process that ended Dec. 31, recent polls have them virtually tied.

“Both (Democrats) have a good chance of winning,” said former Democratic Congressman Luis Gutierrez, who in mid-December campaigned in Georgia in favor of Ossoff and Warnock, even alongside Democratic Congressman Hank Johnson.

During his activities in Georgia, which sought to mobilize the Hispanic vote and other communities, Gutierrez met with Ossoff, who after supporting the statehood for Puerto Rico gave his support to the project that would return to to present in this session the boricuas democratic congressmen Nydia Velázquez and Alexandria Ocasio Cortez in favor of tying to the Congress with a Convention of Status that dedicates to summon the government of the island.

Gutiérrez momentarily halted support for Ossoff a few weeks ago, waiting for him to clarify his support for a process of self-determination, following the local referendum in which 52.5% supported the proposal to make Puerto Rico the state 51 of the USA.

“It is clear that he is in favor of Nydia Velázquez’s proposal,” Gutiérrez said.

Although Ossoff spoke out concisely in favor of statehood for the island, the issue has resonated little in the state, according to Republican Javier Ortiz, who was part of Donald Trump’s transition committee and has the his principal residence in Atlanta.

But Ortiz has said that “Ossoff’s prospect of wanting to turn Puerto Rico and Washington DC into states translates in certain parts of Georgia into an ultra-left agenda.”

Perdue and Loeffler, he noted, have portrayed Ossoff and Warnock as “radicals.”

Meanwhile, Ossoff and Warnock have highlighted the late support of Republican senators for the check to citizens of the latest economic stimulus bill to raise $ 2,000, and denounced potential ethical conflicts by Republican senators.

Georgia’s two Senate seats are the ones left to be defined by the long election night on November 3rd. Republicans have 50 of the 100 seats insured, so winning one will retain a majority in the Senate.

With victories by Warnock and Ossoff, the Democrats – with the decisive vote of President-elect Kamala Harris – would gain control of the Senate. Although in the Senate 60 votes are required to normally pass measures, the party that controls the majority decides the agenda.

The effect of Puerto Ricans

After a very close and contested election in Georgia, which President-elect Biden won by 12,000 votes, the candidates are looking for votes right under the stones. And the Puerto Rican vote is no exception.

Despite representing a small portion of the state’s Hispanic vote, about 90,000 Puerto Ricans reside in Georgia and half have the right to vote, although there are no precise numbers of everything that was recorded and voted for. in the November 3 election.

There are about 920,000 Hispanics in Georgia, mostly of Mexican and Central American descent. One-third of the state’s population is African American.

In terms of the electorate, according to Pew Hispanic Research, 53% are non-Hispanic white, 30% African American, 4% Hispanic, and 3% Asian. The race or ethnicity of 9% of voters is unknown.

“It’s a choice of small margins. We are focused on getting the Latino community to vote,” said Puerto Rican Frederick Vélez, national director of Civic Participation of the Hispanic Federation, in highlighting a toy distribution Saturday night at the Marrietta s Theater in the Square and a revelry with the kings that takes place this afternoon in Atlanta, which they organize alongside Boricua Vote.

Also Puerto Rican Pablo Cáceres, campaign director of United for Progress, said that along with the union Unite Here, and the organizations Alliance for Progress and ‘My People’, have knocked on 250,000 doors for this second round, with the purpose of encouraging the Hispanic electorate to vote.

“We’ve toured different counties,” including Cobb, Marietta and LaFayette, among others, Cáceres argued.

Independent Democratic candidate support groups have brought artists such as Eva Longoria, America Ferrero and Kate from the Castle to Georgia. Actor Osvaldo Rius took part in other events this weekend.

Cáceres thinks that among the well-known Puerto Rican politicians, only Gutiérrez has gone to campaign for the Democrats.

Melissa Rivera, a Puerto Rican who has lived in Cobb County for three years, said her “community is growing” and when what knocks on her door is another Puerto Rican they feel “more confident.”

In his message to voters, Rivera noted that they emphasize the importance for Democrats, who already have a majority in the lower house, of controlling the Senate in order to move the agenda of President-elect Biden.

The president-elect has vowed to promote parity for Puerto Rico in access to programs such as Medicaid, Medicare, food assistance and Supplemental Income Security (SSI), initiatives that would have better chances of success under a Democratic majority in the Senate. .

The same could happen with some legislation to soften the Promise Act.

As for status, Senate Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has ruled out making any proposals in favor of statehood for Puerto Rico, while Democratic leader Charles Schumer believes that the referendum of the 3 of November, in which the estadidad obtained 52,5% of the votes, reaffirmed the division that there is in the island on this subject.

But Biden, however, is committed to a status process that is binding on the federal government and involves representatives of all alternatives to the state.

Both President Donald Trump and President-elect Joe Biden will be campaigning in Georgia tomorrow for their candidates on the eve of the final vote. Vice President Michael Pence, meanwhile, is scheduled to be in Georgia today.