President-elect Joe Biden has joined the Senate run-off race in Georgian, urging voters to hand Senate majority to the Democrats.
Biden told Georgia electorate that he needs a Democratic-controlled Senate to fulfil the campaign promises, including those on coronavirus relief and climate change. "Are you ready to vote for two senators who know how to say yes and not just no?" Biden asked the Georgians, who will vote in early January in a crucial run-off that will decide the majority in the Senate.
Biden hit the Georgia campaign trail immediately after the electoral college formally elected him the next president. The House will meet on January 6 to formally ratify Biden's victory. Earlier this week the US Supreme Court rejected a legal bid by Texas seeking the overturning Biden's victory.
Fight for Senate Control
The Democrats need to win both the Georgia Senate seats to take control of the upper chamber. The Republicans will retain control even if they can elect at least one of the incumbent senators from Georgia.
Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff are in a neck-and-neck fight with incumbent Republicans Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue. Under Georgia rules, a winning candidate must get more than 50 percent of votes, thereby necessitating a run-off as neither candidate got the outright majority in the November 3 elections.
Pitching in for Ossoff and Warnock, Biden openly and directly attacked Loeffler and Perdue for supporting the Texas lawsuit to annul the result of November 3 presidential election. The Texas lawsuit was supported by President Trump, as well as 126 Republican Congress members. As many as 17 Republican majority states had also supported the move.
"They fully embraced nullifying nearly 5 million Georgia votes ... Maybe they think they represent Texas. Well if you want to do the bidding of Texas, you should be running in Texas, not Georgia," Biden said in a sharp attack on Loeffler and Perdue.
Mitch McConnell congratulates Biden
Earlier on Tuesday, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell congratulated Biden, breaking ranks with President Trump. Biden, on his part, offered to work together with McConnel and the Senate Republicans. Hours later he hit the campaign trail in Georgia, seeking to remove McConnel as the Senate leader. Biden told Georgia Democrats that the control of Senate is crucial for rolling out measures such as funding the coronavirus testing and vaccine distribution.
Biden's travel to Atlanta came a week after President Trump visited Georgia to boost the election prospects of Loeffler and Perdue. The Trump campaign has termed Ossoff and Warnock as ultra leftist fringe of the Democratic party. It ha said Biden is under the control of the Leftist wing of the party.
