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Democrats won one race for the United States Senate in Georgia and advanced in another on Wednesday, approaching a surprising sweep that would give them control of the chamber and the power to advance the political goals of President-elect Joe. Biden.
Raphael Warnock, a Baptist preacher from the historic Martin Luther King Jr. Church, beat Republican President Kelly Loeffler to become the first black senator in the history of the Deep South state. Jon Ossoff, a documentary maker who at age 33 would become the youngest member of the Senate, also declared victory with a slight lead over incumbent David Perdue, although the media had yet to declare a winner in that race.
If held, the results would give Democrats tight control of both houses of Congress, making it easier to appoint liberal-leaning judges and advancing legislative priorities from coronavirus relief to climate change when Biden takes office on Monday. January 20.
“Georgia voters delivered a resounding message yesterday: They want action on the crises we face and they want it now,” Biden said in a statement. He said he would work with both parties to quickly confirm key administration officials. That would amount to a final defeat for outgoing President Donald Trump, who is shaping up to be the first US president since 1932 to lose the White House and both houses of Congress in a single term.
With 98 percent of the votes counted, Warnock outscored Loeffler by 1.2 percentage points, or roughly 54,600 votes, according to Edison Research. Ossoff led Perdue by more than 17,000 votes, just shy of a 0.5 percent threshold to avoid a recount. Most of the prominent votes were from Democratic-leaning areas. Winning both races would give Democrats tight control of the Senate by creating a 50-50 split and giving Vice President-elect Kamala Harris the runoff vote beginning Jan.20.
Georgia has been in the firing line since that election, with Donald Trump contesting the results of the presidential election in the state that was narrowly won by Joe Biden.
On Saturday, the president pressured Georgia’s secretary of state and officials to “find” additional votes to tip the November election in his favor. Those same election officials on Tuesday oversaw the Senate’s second round, which went off without a hitch.
The tight races Tuesday night also cement Georgia’s status as a decisive state. Traditionally Republican-leaning, the state has seen an influx of new residents in recent years, while local officials like Governor’s candidate Stacey Abrams have successfully increased voter registration among the state’s African-American population.
Tuesday’s elections took place ahead of a crucial joint session of Congress on Wednesday in which Biden’s election victory will be officially confirmed. But several Republicans have said they will challenge the results of certain states when they are announced in the chamber.
Up to a third of Republicans in the Senate and more than 100 members of the House of Representatives plan to oppose the outcome of the election in at least three, if not more, states. This is despite the fact that dozens of courts have dismissed allegations of widespread electoral fraud perpetuated by the president.
However, the mathematics of the United States Congress makes it virtually impossible for Biden’s victory in November to be overturned.
Pennies
Vice President Mike Pence has also come under increasing pressure from the president in the past 48 hours to invalidate the results of the presidential election when Congress meets.
Pence said Wednesday that he has no power to reverse Trump’s reelection defeat, challenging the president’s demands that he unilaterally reject Electoral College votes from the disputed states during a congressional session on Wednesday. “It is my thoughtful judgment that my oath to support and defend the Constitution limits me to claiming unilateral authority to determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not,” Pence said in a letter to Congress before the event. Last night, the Trump campaign responded to news reports that Pence had informed the president that he had no power to change the outcome, calling it “fake news” and insisting that the vice president and the president were “in full agreement that The vice president has the power to act. ”
Trump is scheduled to address a “Save America” rally outside the White House on Wednesday, amid expectations that thousands of protesters will protest the election result. Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser has deployed about 340 of the city’s 2,700 National Guard personnel to bolster local police amid fears violence could erupt. – Additional reports from Reuters
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