Democrats need to win run-offs for Georgia’s US Senate seats to put Biden agenda on track
The southern state of Georgia is once again taking centre stage in US politics as its two Senate races head to a run-off on January 5 and are likely to determine control of the chamber under the presidency of Democrat Joe Biden.
After Tuesday’s election, the tally for the next Senate that will take control in January is 48 Democrats and 48 Republicans. Each party would need 51 seats for a majority.
However in case of a tie, the Democrats will have the advantage in that Kamala Harris, vice president-elect, will have a casting vote.
The Democrats were able to gain two seats in this election but they lost one, giving them a net gain of one. The Republicans lead in two other seats where votes are being counted – in North Carolina and Alaska.
In Georgia, none of the candidates managed to get more than 50 per cent of the vote to avoid a run-off.
In one race David Perdue, the Republican incumbent and an ally of President Donald Trump, is facing journalist Jon Ossoff, 33. In the other race, Democrat Raphael Warnock, who would be the first black senator for the party from the deep South, is running against Republican incumbent Kelly Loefller.
If the Democrats win the runoffs, something they have not done in the past in Georgia, they would secure 50 seats and have Ms Harris in the role of tiebreaker.
“We take Georgia, and then we change America,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer told a crowd in New York on Saturday.
The Democratic National Committee is expected to pour resources and money into the state to help achieve that outcome. Mr Biden, the president-elect, was ahead of Mr Trump in the state by a margin of 0.2 per cent of the vote but an automatic recount was triggered because the difference was less than 0.5 per cent.
Mr Biden overperformed in Georgia, a state that no Democrat has won since 1992. Georgia’s Democratic politician Stacey Abrams and Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms are seen as major forces behind the Biden campaign. Ms Abrams runs an operation that registered more than 800,000 voters in her state.
Control of the Senate by the Democrats would mean a takeover for the party in Congress and the White House. That would help Mr Biden pass key legislation related to healthcare reform and a coronavirus stimulus package.
On the other hand, if Republicans keep control of the Senate, something they have done since 2014, then Mr Biden’s agenda could be derailed by their majority. Mr Biden would then have to lean on executive orders to fulfil some of his campaign promises after his inauguration on January 20.