Georgia runoffs reach last few days
Race will decide majority of Senate
ATLANTA — Two days before dueling runoffs in Georgia that will determine U.S. Senate control, GOP incumbent Kelly Loeffler said she had not decided whether to join Republican colleagues in challenging the legitimacy of Joe Biden’s victory over President Trump.
The Senate runoffs pit Loeffler against Democrat Raphael Warnock and Sen. David Perdue against Democrat Jon Ossoff. With the Senate up for grabs, the candidates and outside groups supporting them have spent hundreds of millions of dollars in the contests, deluging Georgia with television ads, mail, phone calls and doorknocking efforts.
“I believe that we will win on Tuesday because of the grassroots momentum, the unprecedented movement energy in Georgia right now,” Ossoff told CNN’s “State of the Union Sunday.” He said “it feels in Georgia like we are on the cusp of a historic victory.”
Loeffler, when asked about siding with the growing group of Senate Republicans seeking to contest the Electoral College count, said on “Fox News Sunday” she was, “looking very closely at it, and I’ve been one of the first to say, everything’s on the table.”
Warnock, the senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta who has continued to preach as he campaigns for office, seemed to allude to the runoff in a message delivered Sunday. He told viewers watching remotely due to the pandemic that they are “on the verge of victory” in their lives if they accept that God has already equipped them with the ability to overcome their adversaries. “When God is with you, you can defeat giants,” said Warnock, who ended the early morning service by also encouraging Georgians to vote on Tuesday. “It’s so very important that your voice be heard in this defining moment in our country,” he said. “I would not be so presumptuous as to tell you who to vote for.”
The Senate now stands at 50 Republicans, 46 Democrats and two independents who caucus with the Democrats. If Democrats win both Senate runoff races in Georgia,
they will effectively have a majority, since Vice President-elect Kamala Harris can cast a tiebreaking vote in her role as Senate president.
If a Republican wins either race, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., can continue to block Democrats’ bills from being considered.