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President-elect Joe Biden is doing all he can to help Democrats win two Senate rounds in Georgia that will determine party control in the critical early years of his administration, a widespread effort that not long ago would have was unthinkable in a state dominated by Republicans. in the great south.
The push ahead of Tuesday’s election comes with an early vote that makes some Republicans nervous as President Donald Trump, who narrowly lost the state to Biden, continues to erroneously claim that the electoral process in Georgia is rigged.
Biden and his team directed at least $ 18 million to help Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock attempt to topple Republican Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler. Biden’s campaign manager and new White House deputy chief of staff Jen O’Malley Dillon confirmed the numbers on Saturday, ahead of upcoming visits to Biden state and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. The money includes approximately $ 6 million for election data staff and support and $ 12 million for fundraising for both campaigns.
The president-elect and Harris also recorded robocalls to cover the state before Tuesday. The couple scheduled media interviews in markets across Georgia, including drive-time radio in the morning and late afternoon on Election Day.
The effort reflects the high stakes, with Democrats needing a sweep to tip the Senate in their favor, while Republicans only need a seat to retain their majority and force Biden to fight a government Split. Beyond what it means for Biden’s legislative outlook, the president-elect’s activity highlights the state’s evolution towards a legitimate two-party battleground and what Biden’s team is touting as his advantages as the first Democrat since 1992 to bring the state to a presidential election.
“We are not having any discussion about whether there is added value in having the elected president on it. There are, ”O’Malley Dillon said in an interview. “The party thinks this way and sees the unique coalition it has formed.”
Biden will be in Atlanta on Monday, the same day Trump travels to the northern Georgian town of Dalton for a rally on the eve of the election. Vice President Mike Pence will also be in Georgia on Monday. Harris will be in Savannah on Sunday.
Republicans face considerable pressure to maximize their expected advantage on Election Day to offset an apparent repeat of Democrats’ success in the early turnout in the November election.
“This is a participatory election, and Democrats are voting,” Sen. Ted Cruz, of R-Texas, warned Saturday in Cumming, a suburb of Atlanta, where he campaigned with Loeffler.
In November, around 5 million votes were cast in total. This included 3.6 million advance ballots and about 1.4 million on election day. Democrats showed a large advantage in the opening polls, but Republicans caught up on November 3. Biden beat Trump by about 12,500 votes; Perdue led Ossoff by around 88,000 votes, but did not get the majority required to win. Loeffler and Warnock were forced into a second round because both fell well short of the majority.
Perdue’s initial advantage gave Republicans confidence for much of the second-round campaign. But the early turnout of black voters, who are predominantly Democrats, is now a major concern for the GOP. Black voters so far represent around 31% of the electorate in the first ballot; Several hundred thousand missing ballots are still pending, according to non-partisan data analyst Ryan Anderson of Atlanta. At this stage of the general election, the black part of the early electorate was less than 28%.
Meanwhile, more than 110,000 voters who did not participate in November voted in the second round; O’Malley Dillon said the Democrats’ analysis shows the group is leaning strongly in their favor. All of this suggests that Republicans will need to gain an even greater advantage on Election Day than they did in November.
In the northern suburbs, where Democrats have made huge gains in recent election cycles, Loeffler repeated the themes of his second-round blitz, caricaturing Warnock and Ossoff as radicals who do not fit the political makeup of Georgia . But she didn’t mince words about the possibility that Democrats could win.
“Make no mistake, they are on. They rotate, ”she said. “We need you to make sure that 10, 20 family and friends show up on Tuesday. We have three days to do this. “
As Loeffler campaigned, the president took to Twitter with more false claims that Biden’s victory in Georgia was fraudulent. In fact, Georgia election officials, including Republicans, have vouched for the accuracy of the tally, and several courts have dismissed election challenges from Trump and the GOP.
Perdue remained in quarantine on Saturday after being exposed to a campaign staff member who tested positive for the coronavirus. He told Fox News he would miss Monday’s Trump rally.
In Biden’s camp, meanwhile, O’Malley Dillon said he was convinced Georgia, regardless of its outcome, had already proven a new path for Democrats under Biden. She said the president-elect can energize the party’s diverse and more liberal base while still attracting more moderate voters, including white voters in the metro area who may have leaned Republican. This, she said, makes it more difficult to sustain the GOP’s rote attacks on “radicals” and “socialism.” And O’Malley Dillon said the investments in Georgia demonstrate Biden’s willingness to lend his mark across the country, even in GOP strongholds.
“Joe Biden is the guy who’s always been there to help the party and to help the candidates, fundraising more than anyone … showing up at state-sponsored events.” It’s just a part of who he is, ”O’Malley Dillon said, adding that Georgia“ reflects the way the president-elect wants to conduct ”his political operation as president.
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Thanawala reported from Cumming, Georgia.
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