Georgia becomes center of battle for Senate as races head to runoff elections

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Two key Senate races in Georgia are headed for a runoff, making the southern state the center of the battle between Democrats and Republicans for control of the Senate.

Republican David Perdue and Democrat Jon Ossoff will face off in a 5 January runoff for Perdue’s seat. Libertarian candidate Shane Hazel was able to get enough votes so that neither Perdue nor Ossoff was able to clear the 50% threshold needed for an outright win.

It became clear earlier this week that Democrat Raphael Warnock and Republican Kelly Loeffler are headed for a runoff on the same day for Georgia’s other Senate seat.

Nationally, Democrats and Republicans can each already count on 48 seats in the Senate. Republicans lead uncalled races in Alaska and North Carolina, so the ultimate balance is likely to come down to what happens in the Georgia runoffs.

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If Democrats win the Georgia seats, it would leave the Senate split 50-50, with the vice-president serving as a tie-breaker.

If Joe Biden is in the White House, that would mean a vice-president Kamala Harris would be the deciding vote in the Senate. If Donald Trump wins a second term, then it would be Mike Pence, the current vice-president.

Democrats had hoped to wrench control of the Senate from Mitch McConnell, the Republican majority leader, and raised millions of dollars to fight the GOP candidates in states such as Maine, Kansas, Iowa and South Carolina. But larger-than-expected Republican turnout prevented a “blue wave.”

Democrats picked up a seat in Colorado, where the former governor John Hickenlooper defeated Senator Cory Gardner, and Arizona, where former astronaut Mark Kelly beat the Republican incumbent Martha McSally. Democrats lost a seat in Alabama, where Republican Tommy Tuberville defeated the Democratic incumbent, Doug Jones.

The race between Ossoff and Perdue, a close ally of Donald Trump, has been characterized by sharp attack ads but relatively moderate political positions.

Both candidates pivoted to the middle vying for a state Trump won handily four years ago, but where swaths of suburbia have shown signs of disillusionment with the president.

Perdue sought to cast Ossoff as backing a “radical socialist agenda”, while Ossoff portrayed Perdue as a “corrupt” Washington insider who has been part of a botched pandemic response.