Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Jon Ossoff of Georgia speaks to supporters during a rally on November 15, 2020 in Marietta, Georgia. Ossoff faces incumbent U.S. Senator David Purdue (R-GA) in one of the two runoffs for the U.S. Senate in Georgia on January 5th.
Jessica McGowan | Getty Images
Democrat Jon Ossoff beat Republican David Perdue in one of Georgia’s two Senate runoffs, projected NBC News on Wednesday, sealing his party’s control of Congress and the White House.
The projection in the race came when rioters supporting President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol building after urging supporters at a rally to march to Congress.
Democrat Raphael Warnock will defeat GOP Senator Kelly Loeffler in the other runoff of the state, a special election to serve in the Senate until 2022. The victories set up a 50-50 split in the Senate, giving the Democrats a slim majority with Vice President. -Choose Kamala Harris’ casting vote.
Democrats will unite control of Capitol Hill and the White House for at least the first two years of the election of President Joe Biden. Biden can pursue a broader agenda on issues such as coronavirus relief, healthcare and infrastructure. His candidates for cabinet games and court seats will also come through the Senate more easily.
The 33-year-old Ossoff declared his victory on Wednesday morning and thanked the Georgia voters “for the trust and confidence you have placed in me.” He called on the Senate to “defeat this virus and accelerate economic relief for the people of our state and the American people.” He cites health care, infrastructure and equal rights as his other priorities in Washington.
Ossoff will become the youngest member of the Senate. He and Warnock – who will become the first African-American senator from Georgia and the third sitting Black senator – sealed the first Democratic Senate majority since 2014.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., made an example of his party’s agenda in the Senate by campaigning for more relief from the coronavirus on Wednesday.
“As an Electoral Majority Leader, President Biden and Elected Vice President Harris will have a partner who is willing, willing, and able to help achieve a future-oriented agenda and provide assistance and courageous change to the American people,” he said. said statement.
Speaking to reporters later Wednesday morning, Schumer said “one of the first things I want to do as we sit new senators” is approve direct payments of $ 2,000 coronavirus assistance. The Senate did not approve the independent measure, which President Donald Trump supported, before the end of the election, as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell did not call for a vote.
Both Warnock and Ossoff stepped on the right track to win by larger margins than Biden carried in Georgia in November.
Perdue, 71, is seeking a second term in the Senate (he has technically not been a senator since Sunday, when the previous congress ended). The race came to an end when the Republican failed to get 50% of the vote against investigative filmmaker Ossoff in November’s election.
Reportedly, a spate of Perdue shares early in the coronavirus pandemic led regulators to investigate his investments and Ossoff to declare him a crook. The Republican said a financial adviser did the trading.
Ossoff also claimed that Perdue was not responding to the outbreak, which killed more than 350,000 people in the US. relief package.
Perdue later backed the cash deposits when President Donald Trump insisted. He also voted in favor of the $ 900 billion bailout plan, which was developed after Congress expired the financial lifelines of the pandemic-months.
Perdue supports Trump’s effort to thwart Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election. The president has claimed that he has not proved through dozens of lawsuits that systemic fraud has cost him the election in states such as Georgia, Pennsylvania and Michigan.
Perdue could not vote Wednesday on the certification of the votes in Congress.
Ossoff stresses that the boards of Biden’s agenda, including a minimum wage of $ 15 an hour and a public health care option, can be difficult to pass unless Democrats gain control of the Senate.
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