Democrats raise $200m ahead of key Senate elections in Georgia

Raphael Warnock, U.S. Democratic Senate candidate, left, and Jon Ossoff, U.S. Democratic Senate candidate

Credit: Bloomberg

Two Democrats running for crucial US Senate seats in Georgia have raised more than $200m as part of a closely watched race that will have a major impact on the Biden Administration.

Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, who are standing against Republican candidates in the state of Georgia, each managed to raise $100m (£74m) ahead of the elections. which are due to be held in under two weeks.

Young voter turnout could be the deciding factor in the Georgia race, which is subject to intense national scrutiny as it will decide which party ends up controlling the US senate.

Strong turnout among voters under 30 nationwide helped propel the Democrats’ Joe Biden to victory over Donald Trump in the November presidential election. Young voters were key to Mr Biden’s narrow win in Georgia, with a margin of just under 12,000 votes.

Now, with the national spotlight on Georgia’s Senate races, the campaigns and voter mobilization groups are working to make sure young voters turn out for the runoffs, which pit Mr Ossoff and Mr Warnock against Republican Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler. 

A win by either Republican would maintain the Senate majority for the GOP, while victory for both Democrats would yield of 50-50 split in the chamber, with the tie-breaking vote going to Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.

The push to connect with young voters has been especially apparent for the Democratic campaigns, which have more to gain from high youth turnout and more to lose if it is low. 

Mr Ossoff and Mr Warnock have held rallies in college towns, invested in staff to help register and mobilize young voters, engaged social media influencers to promote content and run ad campaigns on new media and digital platforms. 

They recently hosted a game night on Twitch, a livestreaming platform popular with young gamers. Mr Ossoff also has made a push to connect with voters through TikTok, a video sharing app used by millions of U.S. teens.

In Georgia, people under 30 cast about 16 per cent of the votes in the November election, compared with 13 per cent nationwide, according to AP VoteCast. 

About 6 in 10 voters under 30 in Georgia backed Mr Biden over Mr Trump. But like voters overall, younger voters were divided by race and ethnicity — young non-white voters backed Mr Biden overwhelmingly, with roughly 8 in 10 supporting the Democrats.