The runoofs will determine which party controls the U.S. Senate and will be key to the early success of Joe Biden’s presidency.
The races between GOP Sen. David Perdue and Democrat Jon Ossoff and GOP Sen. Kelly Loeffler and the Rev. Raphael Warnock will determine which party controls Congress’ upper chamber. If Democrats win both seats, each party will have 50 senators, but Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will be the tie-breaking vote for Democrats.
Democrats have framed the races as being critical to accomplishing President-elect Joe Biden’s legislative agenda, while Republicans have urged their voters to get to the polls so the GOP can have a “firewall” in the Senate.
Former business executive and first-term incumbent Perdue, a Republican, is facing Democrat Ossoff, a media executive and investigative journalist who has never won elected office before.
He was first thrust into the national spotlight during his unsuccessful bid to represent Georgia’s 6th Congressional District in a 2017 special election, which became the most expensive campaign for the House of Representatives in history.
In the other runoff, which is a special election to finish out retired Sen. Johnny Isakson’s term, appointed Sen.
Loeffler, a former financial executive and longtime Republican donor, is hoping to be elected to her seat by Georgia voters for the first time. She must fend off a challenge from Warnock, the senior pastor at Atlanta’s storied Ebenezer Baptist Church, the former pulpit of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
US: Sanate runoffs for Georgia
Mandatory Credit: Photo by Nathan Posner/Shutterstock (11671120a)
Democratic Senate Candidates Reverend Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff host a get out the vote concert for the final week of early voting in Georgia, on December 28th in Lithonia, Georgia.
Senate canidates Ossoff and Warnock Get Out the Vote Concert, Lithonia, Georgia, USA - 28 Dec 2020
