Republican incumbent Kelly Loeffler faces off against Raphael Warnock and fellow incumbent David Perdue runs against Jon Ossoff in the Georgia Senate runoff race. Above, in order from left to right, are Loeffler, Warnock, Perdue, and Ossoff.

This runoff is happening because Georgian law states that a contestant must win over 50%  of the votes in the state. Both Republicans were leading in the November 3rd Senate race but neither could get a majority. This particular race is very important because as things stand, Republicans have a 50-48 lead in the Senate. If the Democrats win, that would change it to an even 50-50, and in the event of a tie Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris would break it. This would likely make it much easier for President-Elect Joe Biden to pass legislation. On the other hand, if the Republicans win, that would increase their lead to 4 senators. That would make this election, except for the presidential one, a loss for the Democrats.

The Republican candidates have spent quite a lot more on advertising than their Democrat counterparts. Loeffler and Perdue have spent over 160 million dollars in advertisements during the first three weeks of runoff campaigning, just under 60 million more than Warnock and Perdue. 

Early voting in the runoff election begins on December 14. 270toWin places Warnock and Loeffler neck-and-neck with 48.5% of the vote each and Perdue with a 2% lead over Ossoff with 49.5% of the vote to Ossoff’s 47.5%. Joe Biden is the first President-Elect to win Georgia in 28 years and Georgia has not elected a senator from the Democrats in 24 years. The Republican candidates will most likely win, keeping the senate red for the next four years. 

Absentee ballots can be mailed starting November 18th. These have to be counted by 19:00 on January 5th, 2021. The voter registration deadline is December 7th. Teens that will turn 18 by January 5th can register to vote in this election, even though they couldn’t in the presidential election. In-person voting starts on December 14th. This will close on December 30th. The last votes will be sent in on January 5th, runoff election day.

There is another election going on in Georgia. This is the Georgia recount. The first count of Georgian votes declared Joe Biden as the winner. President Trump demanded a recount and called the GA election a fraudulent joke. This recount slimmed the Democrat candidate’s lead by over a thousand votes. However, this recount also declared Joe Biden as the winner. Joe Biden leads by 0.2% in Georgia. As long as the margins are under 0.5%, there can be a recount. The Trump administration demanded yet another recount. The results are unlikely to change enough to grant the incumbent a win in Georgia. Additionally, Georgia would not change the outcome of the election, because even if Biden loses Georgia’s 16 electoral votes, he would still have 290 of them, which is well over the mark of 270.

Topic: GA Presidential Recount

Runoff Races Continue in Georgia