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WA SHINGTON • Georgia Democratic activist Stacey Abrams said on Sunday that her party would pour unprecedented resources into two runoff Senate races in the traditionally Republican- leaning state that will determine control of the top U.S. legislative chamber.

Abrams, who narrowly lost a race for governor in 2018, has been credited with boosting Democratic hopes in the state, where president- elect Joe Biden was leading Sunday afternoon by around 10,000 votes with the race yet to be called.

Democratic candidates businessman Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock face uphill battles in their Jan. 5 runoffs against incumbent Republican Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler in runoff elections.

The election will likely decide whether Democrats can win seats they need to gain control of the Senate. Republicans are currently on course to win 50 seats in the 100- seat chamber while Democrats have 48. If the chamber has a 50- 50 tie, vice- president- elect Kamala Harris would have the deciding vote.

“I want to push back against this anachronistic notion that we can’t win in Georgia,” Abrams said on CNN’S State of the Union. “We will have the investment and resources that have never followed a runoff in Georgia for Democrats.”

Georgia law requires runoffs in races unless a candidate wins a majority of the vote. Perdue leads Ossoff 49.8 per cent to 47.9 per cent, and secured more votes than either President Donald Trump or Biden did.

Warnock topped Loeffler with 32.9 per cent of the vote to 25.9 per cent, though the incumbent’s results were hurt by a challenge by fellow Republican Representative Doug Collins, who won 20 per cent of the vote in a 21-candidate field.

Abrams said Ossoff and Warnock are working together “to make certain voters come back” for an election in which lower turnout would normally be expected as presidential contenders will no longer be on the ballot.

That control of the Senate rests on the outcome should drive Democrats to the polls, Abrams said.

“This is going to be the determining factor of whether we have access to health care and access to justice in the United States. Those are two issues that will make certain that people turn out,” she said.

Republicans are equally confident that their voters will be motivated too even without Trump on the ballot, largely because wins in just one of the races would ensure they can block many Biden legislative goals.

“I cannot overstate how important to the country both those seats are,” Republican Sen. Ted Cruz said on Fox News.

“If you want a check on Joe Biden, if you don’t want to go over the edge to the socialist abyss, Georgia is the big enchilada,” he said.