SAVANNAH, Ga. -- Two months after the November elections, Georgia voters have unfinished business. The outcome will determine partisan control of the U.S. Senate and how lawmakers deal with a new White House.
Republican Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler are on the ballot Tuesday in runoff elections because neither got enough votes Nov. 3 to win outright.
Democratic challengers Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock have raised staggering sums as they try to capitalize on President-elect Joe Biden's narrow victory in Georgia over President Donald Trump.
Perdue is wrapping up a six-year term. The Republican was first elected in 2014 after running as a political outsider and former CEO of Reebok and Dollar General. In his first term, Perdue became known as one of Trump's chief defenders in the Senate.
In August 2019, Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., announced that he was resigning because of failing health. Georgia's governor appointed Loeffler to fill the seat, but she would have to run in the November election to fill the final two years of Isakson's term.
Like Perdue, Loeffler's background was in business rather than politics. Before joining the Senate, she worked at Intercontinental Exchange, a company founded by her husband that operates the New York Stock Exchange. One of the Senate's wealthiest members, Loeffler has spent more than $20 million of her own cash running.
As for the challengers, Ossoff and Warnock are seeking to become the first Democrats to win a U.S. Senate election in Georgia since 2000.
If he defeats Perdue, Ossoff would be the Senate's youngest member at age 33. His introduction to politics came as a college student when he interned for Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., a civil rights icon who died in July. Ossoff runs a company that produces documentary films and ran for a House seat in 2017, which he lost but he was shown to be a formidable fundraiser.
In the wide-open race for Loeffler's seat, Democratic leaders united early to endorse Warnock, pastor of the Atlanta church where Martin Luther King Jr. preached and one of Georgia's best-known Black ministers. Warnock's activism from the pulpit on issues such as bail reform and expanded voting rights have become centerpieces of his campaign -- just as his sometimes fiery sermons have provided ammunition for attacks by Republicans.
Georgia law requires candidates for Congress and state offices to win by getting more than 50% of the vote. Otherwise, a race gets forced into a runoff between the top two finishers.
In November, Perdue finished 88,000 votes ahead of Ossoff but fell just short of a majority with 49.7% of the vote in a three-way race that included Libertarian Shane Hazel.
A runoff was virtually assured in the special election for Loeffler's seat. Because she was running to complete her predecessor's unfinished term, state law requires a political free-for-all with multiple Republicans and Democrats sharing the ballot. Loeffler and Warnock were the top finishers out of 20 candidates, with neither getting more than one-third of the vote.
If Perdue and Loeffler both lose their seats, Republicans lose control of the U.S. Senate after six years holding a majority in the chamber.
The November elections resulted in Republicans holding 50 Senate seats and Democrats controlling 48. Only the two seats in Georgia remain undecided.
A win by either Perdue or Loeffler would keep the Senate in Republican hands.
But victories by both Ossoff and Warnock would leave both parties with 50 seats each -- and therefore tilt control to Democrats, with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris set to serve as the Senate's presiding officer and voting as needed to break any ties.
The two Democrats reported staggering fundraising of more than $100 million each during the past two months. Their hauls far outpaced the Republican incumbents, with Perdue reporting $68 million and Loeffler just under $64 million.
Georgia voters, meanwhile, have been turning out in huge numbers. More than 2.8 million have voted early either in person or by mail -- more than half of the 5 million total votes cast in Georgia in November.
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January 03, 2021 at 05:09PM
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US Senate control in balance in this week's Georgia votes - Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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