Elected President Joe Biden is going all out to help Democrats win two Senate run-offs in Georgia that will determine party control in the critical early years of his government. in the deep south.
The pressure ahead of Tuesday’s election comes with early voting that makes Republicans nervous as President Donald Trump, who lost the state to Biden, continues to falsely claim that the election process in Georgia is unwavering.
Biden and his team managed at least $ 18 million to help Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock unseat Republican Sen. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler. Biden’s campaign manager and incoming deputy chief of staff of the White House, Jen O’Malley Dillon, confirmed the figures on Saturday ahead of the forthcoming visits to the state by both Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. The money includes about $ 6 million in staff and voter support and $ 12 million in fundraising for the two campaigns.
The president-elect and Harris also recorded robocalls before Tuesday to cover the state. The couple planned media interviews in markets in Georgia, including a “drive-time” radio on election day.
The effort reflects the high stakes, with Democrats pushing the Senate in their favor, while Republicans need just one seat to retain their majority and force Biden to fight with divided government. Beyond what this means for Biden’s legislative prospects, the elected president’s activity highlights the evolution of the state into a legitimate two-party battlefield and what Biden’s team sees as his advantages as the first Democrat since 1992 to run the state in a presidential election. to perform.
“We are not discussing whether there is any added value in getting the president-elect to run. There is, ‘O’Malley Dillon said in an interview. “The party feels that way and sees the unique coalition it has formed.”
Biden will be in Atlanta on Monday, the same day Trump goes to the town of Dalton in North Georgia for an election night. Vice President Mike Pence will also be in Georgia on Monday. Harris will be in Savannah Sunday.
Republicans are being put under heavy pressure to maximize their expected election day advantage to compensate for an apparent repeat of the Democrats’ success in the early November election.
“This is an election for the turnout, and the Democrats are voting,” Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, warned a GOP crowd Saturday in Cumming, a suburb of Atlanta, where he was fighting with Loeffler has.
In November, a total of about 5 million votes were cast. That included 3.6 million early ballots and about 1.4 million on election day. Democrats put a big lead in early voting, but Republicans made figures on Nov. 3. Biden defeated Trump by about 12,500 votes; Perdue led Ossoff by about 88,000 votes, but did not have the required majority to win straight. Loeffler and Warnock were forced into a runway because both have a majority.
Perdue’s initial advantage gave Republicans confidence for much of the run-off campaign. But the early rise of black voters, who lean overwhelmingly Democratic, is now of great importance to the IDP. Black voters so far make up about 31% of the early run-off elections; several hundred thousand absentee ballots are still outstanding, according to nonpartisan data analyst Ryan Anderson of Atlanta. At this stage of the general election, the black share of early voters was less than 28%.
Meanwhile, more than 110,000 voters who did not participate in November cast their ballots; O’Malley Dillon said the Democrats’ analysis shows the group is tilting strongly in their favor. All of this suggests that Republicans will have to gain an even greater election day advantage than in November.
In the northern suburbs, where Democrats have made significant gains in recent election cycles, Loeffler has repeated the themes of her runaway blitz, characterizing Warnock and Ossoff as radicals who do not fit Georgia’s political composition. But she did not utter the words about the possibility that Democrats could win.
‘Do not make a mistake, they are raised. They are turning out, ”she said. ‘We need to make sure you get 10, 20 from your family and friends at the polls on Tuesday. We have three days to get it done. ”
While campaigning, Loeffler tweeted with more false allegations that Biden’s victory in Georgia was fraudulent. In fact, Georgia election officials, including Republicans, confirmed the accuracy of the count, and several courts rejected the challenges of Trump and the GOP election.
Perdue remained in quarantine on Saturday after being exposed to a campaign staff that tested positive for the coronavirus. He told Fox News he would miss Monday’s Trump rally.
In Biden’s camp, O’Malley Dillon, meanwhile, said there was confidence that Georgia, regardless of its outcome, had already proved a new path for Democrats under Biden. She said the president-elect could promote the party’s diverse, more liberal base, while still appealing to more moderate voters, including the white voters in the metro area who may have leaned Republican. This, she said, makes it harder for persistent GOP attacks on ‘radicals’ and ‘socialism’ to hold on. And O’Malley Dillon said the investments in Georgia show that Biden is willing to give its brand across the country, even in the strongholds of GOP.
‘Joe Biden is the man who has always been there to help the party and to help candidates, who has done more fundraising than anyone else … who shows up to state party events. It’s just a part of who he is, ‘O’Malley Dillon said, adding that Georgia “reflects on how the president-elect wants to conduct his political operation as president.
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Thanawala reported from Cumming, Georgia.