Biden flexes muscle in Senate races

President- elect Joe Biden is going all- in to help Democrats win two Senate runoffs in Georgia that will determine party control in the critical early years of his administration, an effort that not long ago would have been unthinkable in a Republicandominated state in the Deep South.

The push ahead of Tuesday’s election comes with early voting making some Republicans nervous as President Donald Trump, who narrowly lost the state to Biden, continues to assert that the Georgia election process is rigged.

Biden and his team have steered at least $ 18 million to help Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock try to unseat Republican Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler. Biden’s campaign manager and incoming White House deputy chief of staff, Jen O’Malley Dillon, confirmed the figures Saturday, ahead of visits to the state by both Biden and Vice President- elect Kamala Harris.

The president- elect and Harris also have recorded robocalls to blanket the state ahead of Tuesday. The pair has planned media interviews in markets across Georgia, including morning and late- afternoon “drive- time” radio on Election Day.

The effort reflects the high stakes, with Democrats needing a sweep to tilt the Senate in their favor, while Republicans need just one seat to keep their majority and force Biden to contend with divided government. The president- elect’s activity highlights the state’s evolution into a legitimate two- party battleground and what Biden’s team touts as his advantages as the first Democrat since 1992 to carry the state in a presidential election.