Georgia’s Senate races: Democrats hope to win both and boost their bid to topple GOP majority in chamber
While the US has remained glued to the contest between President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden, some key Senate races have also hogged the limelight and they will eventually decide whether the Democrats can flip the chamber or the GOP will maintain its majority there.
To tilt the Senate in its favor, the Democratic Party would have to clinch three seats if Biden wins or four if Trump wins (since the vice president breaks ties in the Senate). Currently, the Republican Party is leading the Democrats in the Senate 53-47.
One of the much-talked-about Senate races is in Georgia where GOP incumbent David Perdue is being challenged by Democrat Jon Ossoff, who made an unsuccessful attempt to win the House a few years ago. Cook Political Report has called this contest a “toss-up”.
Georgia's other special Senate election
The Peach State, in fact, has another closely watched Senate race which is a special election and a bit complicated. Kelly Loeffler was appointed by Governor Brian Kemp as the replacement for Johnny Isakson after he retired last year but she did not have the backing of President Trump. This has led to a situation where Loeffler is being challenged by fellow GOP candidate Doug Collins, a Trump supporter, and Democrat Rev. Raphael Warnock, the senior pastor of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church. According to a recent Monmouth poll, Warnock was leading the race at 41 percent while Loeffler was at 21 percent and Collins at 18 percent. If no candidate manages to secure 50 percent of the votes, the race goes to a runoff in January, even if it sees two candidates from the same party.
In the case of Perdue and Ossoff, aged 70 and 33 respectively, the race is tight. Some recent polls have shown the latter, an investigative journalist, leading his more experienced opponent by single digits. Last week, a Monmouth poll showed Ossoff leading Perdue by 49 to 46 percent (he was trailing by five points in September) and if that election also fails to find a candidate with 50 percent of the votes, a run-off will be due. Ossoff had run for the House of Representative seat in 2017 in a special election for Georgia’s 6th congressional district. He raised record funds but despite being placed first during the election, he fell short of 50 percent of the votes and lost to his opponent Republican Karen Handel in the runoff. Yet in the defeat, Ossoff got wide recognition. Perdue, on the other hand, is serving in the Senate since 2015 and is a businessman.
If the Democrats manage to win both the Senate seats in Georgia, their mission to flip the chamber will get a major boost. But if both the contests end up in a run-off, the balance of power in the Senate could remain uncertain for weeks.
