Biden: Gridlock if GOP keeps Senate
Preview came during Obama’s presidency, he says
ATLANTA — President-elect Joe Biden told Georgia voters Tuesday that they must deliver two Democratic Senate runoff victories in January so his administration can forcefully confront the coronavirus pandemic and other national challenges.
Fresh off the Electoral College’s affirmation of his victory, Biden campaigned alongside Jon Ossoff and the Rev. Raphael Warnock as they try to unseat Republican Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler in Jan. 5 runoff elections that will determine which party controls the Senate.
The president-elect, who won Georgia in November, warned that Republican victories would leave him to face the kind of GOP obstruction that hampered former President Barack Obama for most of his two terms.
“We can get so much done, so much that can make the lives of the people of Georgia and the whole country so much better,” Biden said at a drive-in rally outside downtown Atlanta on the second day of early voting. “And we need senators who are willing to do it, for God’s sake.”
Loeffler tweeted Tuesday: “I will never stop fighting for @realdonaldtrump because he has never stopped fighting for us!”
The two senators’ campaign aides did not respond to a fresh inquiry Tuesday about whether they acknowledge the reality of Biden’s election.
Perdue, Loeffler and their allies have issued dire warnings that a Democratic Senate would ensure a leftward lurch in the federal government. Democrats need to win both Georgia seats to force a 50-50 Senate, and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris would be the tiebreaking vote.
Republicans need one of the two Georgia seats for Kentucky Sen. Mitch Mcconnell to remain majority leader and set the Senate agenda.
Biden also used the trip to catch up with key supporters who helped him win Georgia.
He praised voting rights advocate Stacey Abrams, Democrats’ 2018 candidate for governor, for her years of organizing work that registered hundreds of thousands of new voters. He also singled out Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who gave Biden one of his earliest high-profile endorsements in 2019.
After he spoke, Biden huddled with Bottoms, who has been mentioned for various Cabinet posts, before departing.