Senate majority at stake in Georgia vote

Political heavy-hitters headed to Georgia the day before Tuesday’s runoff elections. President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, and President-elect Joe Biden all appeared on behalf of their parties’ candidates, whose races will determine control of the U.S. Senate. Republicans have 50 seats in the Senate and will retain the majority if they win one of the two Georgia seats up for grabs. If Democrats win both, they can use Vice President–elect Kamala Harris’ tie breaking vote to grab control, giving the party power over the White House and both houses of Congress as Biden’s presidency begins.

Who’s in the running? Incumbent Republican Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler face Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock. In November’s election, Perdue beat Ossoff by nearly 90,000 votes. But neither candidate won more than 50 percent of the votes, which is why state rules demanded a runoff. In the other Senate race, Warnock grabbed 1.6 million votes in November, while Loeffler and a GOP challenger, Doug Collins, split about 2.3 million votes.

Dig deeper: Read Jamie Dean’s report on each party’s strategy in the runoff campaigns.