Trump, Biden to rally in Georgia ahead of high-stakes Senate races
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[January 04, 2021]
By Andy Sullivan
(Reuters) - President Donald Trump travels
to Georgia on Monday in a bid to keep the U.S. Senate in the hands of
his Republican Party, after his efforts to overturn his own defeat in
the state have injected new uncertainty into a pair of races that are
seen as too close to call.
President-elect Joe Biden also will travel to Georgia for a last-minute
rally ahead of the Tuesday runoff elections, which pit a pair of
incumbent Republican senators against two Democratic challengers.
If Republicans Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue successfully defend their
seats, their party would maintain a 52-seat majority in the 100-seat
Senate, giving them the power to block much of Biden's agenda when he
takes office on Jan. 20.
A sweep by Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff would hand control
to Biden's party, as Vice President-elect Kamala Harris would hold the
tiebreaking vote in the 50-50 chamber. That would make it easier for
Biden to enact further coronavirus relief and tackle climate change, as
Democrats also control the House of Representatives.
None of the candidates won a majority in their November races, which
spurred the runoff elections.
Biden narrowly won Georgia in November, breaking years of Republican
dominance in the state. Trump has refused to acknowledge his defeat and
his campaign has unsuccessfully sought to overturn the results in
Georgia and several other battleground states.
Trump pressured Georgia's top election official, Secretary of State Brad
Raffensperger, on Saturday to "find" enough votes to overturn his
defeat.
"There's nothing wrong with saying, you know, that you've recalculated,"
Trump said, according to an audio recording of the call released by the
Washington Post. Raffensperger refused his request.
Democrats and election experts say Trump's efforts almost certainly
broke the law.
It is not clear whether Trump's actions and his repeated claims of
election fraud will affect the outcome of the Senate races. Strategists
from both parties say the outcome could likely hinge on how many
Republican voters participate on Tuesday, given strong Democratic
early-voting turnout.
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President Donald Trump walks to the Oval Office after returning from
Mar-A-Lago to the White House in Washington, U.S., December 31,
2020. REUTERS/Leah Millis
"If we get our vote out on Election Day then I think Perdue and
Loeffler both have a very strong chance of winning," Cobb County
Republican Party Chairman Jason Shepherd told Reuters.
Trump warned Raffensperger on Saturday that Republican voters might
be disheartened if Biden's victory is allowed to stand.
"Because of what you've done to the president a lot of people aren't
going to vote, and a lot of people are going to vote negative," he
said on the call. He has previously called for both Raffensperger
and Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, both Republicans, to resign for not
backing his unsupported allegations of election fraud.
The campaigns have obliterated spending records and spurred
unprecedented turnout. More than 3 million Georgians have already
cast their votes and political groups have flooded the southern
state with a tsunami of advertising.
Trump is due to visit Dalton, a city in the state's heavily
Republican northwest.
Biden will rally along with Ossoff and Warnock in Atlanta.
(Reporting by Andy Sullivan; additional reporting by Nathan Layne in
Georgia; Editing by Michael Perry)
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