Georgia runoffs to settle Senate race
Control of the US Senate and prospects for united rule in Congress for incoming president Joe Biden will boil down to two runoff elections in Georgia, with Democrats and Republicans positioning for an epic political battle.
Party leaders and the candidates themselves on Saturday presented the southern state as the new ground zero in a war to either clear a congressional path to help Biden implement many of his proposed reforms, or put a check on President Donald Trump's White House successor.
Democrats were aiming to flip the upper chamber of Congress on Election Day by ousting at least three Republicans, a result that would present Biden with an incoming president's dream: both the Senate and House of Representatives under his party's control.
Had Trump won, Democrats would have needed to gain four seats in the Senate -- where Republicans currently enjoy a 53-47 majority -- as the vice president, as president of the Senate, breaks a 50-50 tie. Democrats so far have a net gain of just one seat. Now they have a lifeline.
Georgia Republican Senator David Perdue leads in his race, but at 49.8 percent he is short of an outright majority, meaning he faces Democrat Jon Ossoff in a January 5 runoff as stipulated by state rules.
A second Georgia race, a special election for the seat of Senator Kelly Loeffler who was appointed to replace a retiring lawmaker last December, is also headed to a special election on the same day. And the eyes of the political world were rapidly honing in on the state.
Georgia has been reliably Republican for a generation, and winning even one of the Peach State's Senate seats would be an uphill challenge for Democrats.
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