Georgia voters will go to the polls on Tuesday after two months of tough campaigning for the January 6 vigilante Senate election. The result will decide which party has the majority in the Senate and will determine effectiveness President-elect Joe Biden it will be able to implement its legislative agenda.
Incumbent Republican senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler face well-funded Democratic opponents. Jon Ossoff and the Rev. Raphael Warnock. Georgia was a critical state in the presidential election and was almost won by Mr. Biden, a result that was asserted again and again with an initial count and two additional counts.
President Trump has focused on the state in its fruitless effort to topple election results with unfounded allegations of fraud. In a phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Saturday, the audio of which was obtained by CBS News, Trump tried to pressure Raffesnperger to “find” more than 11,000 votes in order to win the state.
“The people of Georgia are angry, the people of the country are angry,” Mr. Trump can be heard on the audio recording. “And there’s nothing wrong with saying that, you know, hey, you’ve recalculated.”
Supporters on both sides hope Mr Biden’s unexpected victory will motivate voters to take part in the high-profile qualifiers, which have already broken attendance records.
The Senate balance is currently 50 Republicans to 48 Democrats. If Ossoff and Warnock win their careers, Democrats will have a 50-50 majority, with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris breaking any tie. That would give Democrats control of the House, Senate and White House, which means Mr. Biden’s priorities could be more easily implemented by a cooperative convention.
Tuesday is the second time Perdue and Loeffler will face Ossoff and Warnock. Perdue, who was ready for re-election, was unable to reach the 50% threshold in the Nov. 3 election that would have allowed him to avoid a second round. Loeffler, who was nominated to fill a vacancy by Senator Johnny Isakson in 2019, was challenged by 20 other special election candidates. Although Warnock won the plurality of votes on November 3, no candidate won a majority, which also resulted in a second round.
Millions of Georgians voted in advance or by no-vote before the presidential election, and many have also chosen to do so before the playoffs. More than 3 million Georgians voted in the second round at the end of the early voting. According to the Georgia Secretary of State, two million of those votes were in-person votes and nearly one million votes by mail. Data analyzed by Georgia Votes shows that more than 115,000 people voted at the beginning of the qualifiers who did not vote in November.
Democratic candidates have a lead in fundraising after a massive, record rebound in the third quarter. In a dossier published Dec. 24, the Ossoff and Warnock campaigns revealed that each had received more than $ 100 million between mid-October and mid-December. Republicans, however, receive substantial help from outside groups in January.
However, it is unclear whether the campaign dollars will translate into votes. Many Democratic Senate candidates screamed at their opponents last year, but Democrats only invested two seats in the Senate.
And despite the Democratic fundraising advantage, Republicans and their allies have outnumbered Democrats in advertising. According to Kantar / CMAG data, GOP candidates and third-party groups have spent $ 279 million, while Democratic candidates and groups have spent $ 234 million.
Both Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump will travel to Georgia on January 5 to increase support for their candidates. Loeffler and Perdue have been closely linked to Mr. Trump, who refuses to acknowledge that he lost the election.
Perdue has been forced to leave the campaign track in his final stretch. On Dec. 31, he said he was in his forties after coming into close contact with someone in the campaign who tested positive for COVID-19, according to his campaign. Perdue and his wife tested negative on New Year’s Eve, but went into quarantine on the advice of their doctor and in accordance with CDC guidelines.
Republican senators have had to draw a fine line between acknowledging some problems with the November election, but persuading Republicans to run in the playoffs.
“If you’re angry with November, fight. Fight with us,” Perdue told a crowd in Henry County last week. “(President Trump) will come Monday night for one of the reasons: to remind people, no matter what you think about November, we have to keep the line to protect everything we’ve achieved in the last four years.”
Republican candidates have framed their campaigns as a last line of defense against Democrats who adopt their policies, which they often characterize as “radicals” and “socialists.”
“We’re the firewall to stop socialism, we have to keep the line here in Georgia, the nation counts on us,” Loeffler told the crowd on the Atlanta subway on New Year’s Eve. “I know you feel the pressure. The pressure is on.”
Republicans who support Loeffler and Perude have echoed these concerns about the Democratic agenda.
“The things they can drive are devastating to our freedoms as Americans,” Pat Quigley, 80, said after hearing Loeffler speak.
Later that day, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina came to Georgia to campaign for Republicans and set the Republican Party’s plan if they won at least one of the playoffs.
“Here we have the opportunity in a few days to make sure that the most radical agenda in the history of American politics dies in the US Senate. That everything that comes out of Pelosi’s house arrives in the Senate and kill him dead “. Graham told the Gainesville crowd.
Democratic candidates have presented an equally urgent launch to their base, warning that all policies they want to adopt, from COVID aid to health, the economy and criminal justice reform, are in jeopardy if they lose only one of the races.
“If Mitch McConnell maintains control of the U.S. Senate, he will try to do it with Joe and Kamala exactly as he tried to do with President Obama,” Ossoff said at a joint rally with Warnock in DeKalb County last week . “They will block the relief from the COVID we need. They will block the $ 15 minimum wage we deserve as Americans. They will block the student debt relief that young people in this country are asking for.”
“You need U.S. senators who are people-centered and not self-centered,” Warnock told the crowd at the drive-in rally.
Ossoff won Perdue by more than 80,000 votes in November, but told CBSN’s Lana Zak on Sunday that he believed Democrats have “movement energy.” He insisted he would not be a “partisan soldier,” but said Democrats must test the power of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.