Georgia votes in polls that could shape Biden presidency
A er an unprecedented campaign that mobilized President Donald Trump and his successor Joe Biden, the people of Georgia started voting Tuesday in two US Senate runoffs that could shape the first years of the new Democratic presidency.
For nearly 20 years Georgia has voted reliably Republican in the presidential election and Senate contests.
But Biden pulled out a shock victory in Georgia in November, one of several states that he flipped to win the White House, and the races for the Senate have come down to the wire in the biggest, most expensive congressional runoffs in US history.
At stake is control of the upper chamber, now in the hands of Republicans.
Polls opened at 7 am in the southern state. A record three million-plus people have voted early, election officials say, and final results may not be known for several days.
A staggering US$832 million has been spent on the two contests, including spending in the primary and general elections, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
The Republican and Democratic parties have made Georgia their political ground zero, with thousands of volunteers leaving no door unknocked and current and future presidents and vice
One state- one state- can chart the course, not just for the next four years but for the next generation.
Joe Biden
presidents barnstorming the state for every last vote.
If Democrats flip both seats they win back the Senate, effectively handing Biden all levers of political power in Washington and helping him enact his ambitious legislative agenda.
“One state – one state! – can chart the course, not just for the next four years but for the next generation,” Biden told a rally in Atlanta where he campaigned
Monday with the races’ two Democrats.
Republicans argue that keeping Senate control would serve as a check on the incoming Biden administration.
“The stakes in this election could not be higher,” Trump told a raucous rally in Dalton, Georgia hours a er Biden’s Atlanta showing. “Make sure your vote is counted.”
The races feature Republican incumbent senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, both wealthy business people turned-politicians, against Black pastor Raphael Warnock and documentary producer Jon Ossoff.
Noting that “the whole world is watching,” Trump implored Georgians to re-elect the Republicans.
Tuesday’s runoffs are “your last chance to save the America that we love,” he said.
Trump, still scheming to overturn the election results and lashing out at Republicans who oppose his efforts, jetted to Georgia amid a scandal over his blatant attempt on a phone call to pressure state officials to reverse the certified vote and hand him victory.
A recording of the call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger was published by The Washington Post.
On the tape, Trump told Raffensperger he wanted to “find 11,780 votes” – one more than Biden’s margin of victory in Georgia – and repeatedly and falsely claimed that he won the state, an assertion refuted in recounts and in the courts.
One day a er the runoffs, Congress will meet in a joint session to certify the Electoral College vote that confirmed Biden as the presidential winner.
Large street demonstrations in support of Trump are also planned on Wednesday in Washington.