Balance of power: Georgia voters have their say; results will help determine what Biden can and can’t get done.
Outcome could be crucial for President-elect Biden
ATLANTA – Georgia voters are deciding the balance of power in Congress in a pair of high-stakes Senate runoff elections that will help determine President-elect Joe Biden’s ability to enact what could be the most progressive governing agenda in generations.
Republicans are unified against Biden’s plans for health care, environmental protection and civil rights, but some fear that outgoing President Donald Trump’s attempts to undermine the integrity of the nation’s voting systems may discourage voters in Georgia.
State election officials reported light turnout Tuesday morning. There were virtually no lines at polling sites statewide, with voters waiting only about five minutes to cast ballots, said Deputy Secretary of State Jordan Fuchs. There were no reports of major problems at polls as of midday.
More than 3 million Georgians had voted early either by mail or during inperson voting in December. The robust early turnout was expected to benefit Democrats.
Republicans were counting on a big turnout Tuesday to boost their chances.
At a rally in northwest Georgia on the eve of Tuesday’s runoffs, Trump repeatedly declared that the November elections were plagued by fraud that Republican officials say did not occur. At the same time, Trump encouraged his supporters to show up in force Tuesday.
“You’ve got to swarm it tomorrow,” Trump told thousands of cheering supporters, downplaying the threat of fraud.
Democrats must win both of the state’s Senate elections to gain the Senate majority. In that scenario, the Senate would be equally divided 50-50 with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, as Senate president, serving as the tiebreaker for Democrats.
The Democrats secured a narrow House majority and the White House during November’s general election.
One contest features Democrat Raphael Warnock, who serves as the senior pastor of the Atlanta church where slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. grew up and preached. The 51year-old Warnock was raised in public housing and spent most of his adult life
preaching in Baptist churches.
Warnock is facing Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler, a 50-year-old former businesswoman who was appointed to the Senate less than a year ago by the state’s Republican governor. She is only the second woman to represent Georgia in the Senate, although race has emerged as a campaign focus far more than gender. Loeffler and her allies have seized on some snippets of Warnock’s sermons at the historic Black church to cast him as extreme. Dozens of religious and civil rights leaders have pushed back.
The other election pits 71-year-old former business executive David Perdue, who held the Senate seat until his term officially expired Sunday, against Democrat Jon Ossoff, a former congressional aide and journalist.