Biden runs election campaign in Georgia after top Republicans acknowledge victory

FILE PHOTO: United States President-elect Joe Biden delivers a televised address to the nation after the United States Electoral College formally confirmed his victory over President Donald Trump in the 2020 United States presidential election, from Biden’s transitional headquarters at the Queen Theater in Wilmington, Delaware. USA, December 14, 2020. REUTERS / Mike Segar / File Photo

ATLANTA – Hours after speaking with Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell and promising to try to work together, President-elect Joe Biden urged Georgians on Tuesday to topple McConnell as majority leader by electing the two Democratic candidates in the second round. of the Senate of January 5.

In a speech marking his return to the election campaign a day after the Electoral College confirmed his Nov. 3 election victory, Biden, a Democrat, laid out the risks of the twin races in no uncertain terms, warning that leaving the Senate in Republican hands could threaten much of your political agenda.

“Are you ready to vote for two senators who know how to say yes and no just no?” Biden said at a drive-in movie theater in Atlanta, where attendees stayed in their cars due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff are challenging Republican incumbents Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, respectively. A Democratic sweep would give the party control of both houses of Congress and the White House, while even a Republican victory would allow McConnell to block many of Biden’s legislative goals.

Earlier Tuesday, McConnell broke with Republican President Donald Trump and congratulated Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris for the first time since the Senate. Trump has refused to budge, even as his myriad efforts to overturn the results have failed.

Biden told reporters that he and McConnell agreed to meet soon to discuss possible areas of cooperation.

During the campaign event, he made clear, however, the boundaries of that partnership, telling Georgians that a Democratic Senate was necessary to advance coronavirus relief, funding for testing, and vaccine distribution. , aid to state and local governments, climate change and criminal justice. .

He also attacked Loeffler and Perdue for agreeing to a lawsuit brought by Texas and supported by Trump that sought to invalidate election results in Georgia and three other states that elected Biden. The United States Supreme Court summarily dismissed the case on Friday.

“They fully agreed to override nearly 5 million Georgia votes,” Biden said. “Maybe they think they represent Texas. Well, if you want to do the Texas bid, you should apply in Texas, not Georgia. “

Despite Trump’s attacks, Biden has gone ahead with building his cabinet, and it was announced Tuesday that more options emerged.

He has chosen Pete Buttigieg, his longtime rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, to head the U.S. Department of Transportation, according to three people familiar with the matter.

Buttigieg, 38, a former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, would be the first openly LGBTQ cabinet secretary approved by the Senate.

U.S. Representative Deb Haaland, 60, of New Mexico, is Biden’s top pick to head the Department of the Interior, according to three sources familiar with the proceedings, a selection that would make her the first Native American to lead a U.S. agency. cabinet if the Senate confirms it. .

COVID-19 relief

Biden has lobbied Congress to pass a new round of coronavirus relief before the end of the year. Congressional leaders met Tuesday as they seek to finalize a government funding bill and end a months-long standoff over economic relief.

McConnell and his top deputies also lobbied other Senate Republicans not to join any House Republicans who might challenge the election result when Congress meets Jan. 6 to ratify the decision.

Any such effort to challenge the results is almost certain to fail, as it would require the approval of both houses, including the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives.

Biden was congratulated on Tuesday by Russian President Vladimir Putin, one of Trump’s favorites, and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who had refrained from acknowledging Biden’s victory.

Biden and Harris will be sworn in on the steps of the U.S. Capitol on January 20 with far fewer people present than usual due to the raging coronavirus that has killed more than 300,000 people in the United States, the inaugural planning committee said Tuesday. .

All eyes on Georgia

Biden’s narrow victory in Georgia last month underscored the transformation of the southern state from a Republican stronghold to one of the most competitive political battlefields in the country.

Both parties have invested resources before the second round of the January elections. Biden’s trip to Atlanta came nine days after Trump traveled to Georgia in support of Republican senators.

More than 480,000 ballots were cast after the first full day of early voting in person and voting by mail, according to the University of Florida’s US Elections Project.

Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh said in a statement that Warnock and Ossoff “represent the leftmost fringe” of the Democratic Party and that Biden’s appearance in the campaign showed that he was under the influence of the left wing of the Democratic Party. match.

Both parties in Georgia face turnout challenges amid the pandemic and without the polarizing Trump at the top of the ballot to draw voters from his deeply loyal supporters, as well as detractors with deep animosity toward him.

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