Here’s What You Need To Know About The Georgia Elections (Which Affect All Of The United States) | NOW

On Tuesday, voters in the U.S. state of Georgia will not only determine who represents them in the Senate, but also which party wins. These are the candidates and the stakes of the incredibly exciting races for both seats.

In the November elections, none of the four candidates managed to get 50% of the vote. According to Georgian law, a second round is therefore necessary.

What is at stake at the national level

If Democrats win both seats, it will lead to a new 50-50 ratio in the Senate. With the casting vote of Vice President Kamala Harris, that would mean a slim majority, placing Democrats in both houses of Congress.

Such a majority is essential to realize the policies of the Biden government, for example in the areas of climate change and health care. With a majority of 50 + 1 seats, the most radical plans risk being left out of reach, but “compromise legislation” (with the participation of moderate Republicans) becomes possible.

If Republicans manage to retain their majority in the Senate, they can really upset Biden and his people. The Senate fulfills a similar role to the Dutch Senate in legislation and must also approve the appointment of cabinet members and federal judges.

How are the races going

The battle is between incumbent Republican Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler and their Democratic opponents Jon Ossof and Raphael Warnock. the polls (as far as they are reliable) show no clear precursors in the two races.

Perdue won around 90,000 more votes in the first round than challenger Ossof, but that difference appears to have narrowed. The fight between Loeffler and Warnock is even more difficult to interpret, as they faced no less than nineteen other candidates in the first round.

Normally, the turnout in the second round of senatorial elections is low, but due to the main national political interests and the enormous attention that they involve, a higher turnout is expected this time around. Some three million people in Georgia, or about 40% of the electorate, voted early.

The two races are therefore mainly about who can raise the most voters. On the Republican side, there are fears that the mixed message conveyed by President Donald Trump and his supporters – “our electoral system is hopelessly corrupt, but vote” – will weigh on Republican participation.

Georgia voted for a Democratic presidential candidate for the first time since 1992 in November.

The candidates: Republican residents

David Perdue (71): Former CEO of companies such as Reebok and Dollar General. He won his Senate seat in 2014, following a campaign highlighting his business background. Perdue is known to be very conservative and business friendly.

Like his colleague Loeffler, Perdue is a Trump loyalist who supports the president’s baseless allegations of electoral fraud. He has caused a sensation in recent months by refusing to start a debate with his opponent Ossof, whom he describes as a communist.

Kelly Loeffler (50 years old): Former executive at financial services firm Bakkt, part of her husband’s Intercontinental Exchange conglomerate, and co-owner of the Atlanta Dream women’s basketball team. She is one of the richest people in Congress.

Loeffler was named to replace a senator who resigned due to illness at the end of 2019. She has never been known for her political outspokenness, but she has been right behind President Trump since her appointment. His harsh criticism of the Black Lives Matters movement led to tensions between Loeffler and the Atlanta Dream players.

The candidates: the democratic challengers

Jon Ossof (33 years old): Young investigative journalist and documentary maker. He ran for election to the United States House of Representatives in 2017 – with the blessing of the late civil rights icon John Lewis, with whom he was previously interned.

The constituency in question was known as a Republican stronghold. Ossof lost, but with a much smaller difference than expected. It gained national attention by breaking fundraising records and increasing turnout among young Democrats and minorities. Ossof is seen as socially progressive and economically moderate, and is seen as less on the left than Warnock.

Raphael Warnock (51): Chief pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, the church where Martin Luther King Jr. predecessor. This makes him an important voice in Georgia’s large black community.

Warnock has become politically active as a leader of campaigns to make public health insurance more widely available and against voter oppression. He is socially and economically progressive and is known as a leftist than Ossof.