President-elect Joe Biden is heralding a Democratic victory in at least one of Georgia’s two U.S. Senate runoffs as part of “a resounding message,” as well as good news for his agenda.
Biden in a statement Wednesday congratulated Rev. Raphael Warnock on his “groundbreaking win” over Republican Kelly Loeffler, noting he was “hopeful” that fellow Democrat Jon Ossoff would also win his race. Biden, the first Democrat in decades to win Georgia’s electoral votes, campaigned several times for the Senate candidates, whose performances affect his legislative agenda’s success. Ossoff’s victory would mean a 50-50 Senate split, with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris serving as a tie-breaking vote. Ossoff held a small lead over Republican David Perdue as of Wednesday morning, though it was too early to call the race. Under Georgia law, a trailing candidate may request a recount when the margin of an election is less than or equal to 0.5 percentage points.
Today on AirTalk, we check in on where things stand in Georgia and talk with analysts about what the results could mean for moving legislation and the Dem agenda. Do you have thoughts or questions? Give us a call at 866-893-5722.
With files from the Associated Press
Guests:
Jack Pitney, professor of politics at Claremont McKenna College; he tweets
Amanda Renteria, board member for Emerge America, a national organization that works to identify and train Democratic women who want to run for political office; she is the former national political director for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and has been a staffer for Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI); she tweets