05 January 2021 - Georgia runoff election
Georgia election: All you need to know about key Senate runoff races
(BBC News, 04/01/2021)
All eyes are on the southern state of Georgia, where the future of the US Senate will be decided this week. Here's all you need to know.
There are two races and voting has been going on since mid-December.
The outcome will be crucial to how much the incoming Democratic president, Joe Biden, will be able to achieve in his first term.
Georgia election will advance this fundamental change in US Senate
Ronald Brownstein (CNN, 05/01/2021)
The one sure bet from Tuesday's US Senate runoff elections in Georgia is that they will produce a Senate precariously balanced between the two parties, accelerating a fundamental change that is simultaneously making the institution more volatile and more rigid.
Even if Republicans win both races, they will control the Senate majority with only 52 seats. If Democrats win both, they will eke out a 50-50 Senate majority with the tie-breaking vote of incoming Vice President Kamala Harris. A split would produce a 51-49 GOP majority.
That slim range of possibilities underscores a key change in the structure of Senate elections: With each party now consistently dominating elections up and down the ballot across a larger swath of states, it has become much tougher for either to amass a commanding Senate majority.
Trump and Georgia candidates jockey to define the stakes of Tuesday’s runoffs
Nolan D. McCaskill (Politico, 03/01/2021)
President Donald Trump is blasting a trio of Georgia’s top elected officials. Sen. Kelly Loeffler is vilifying Chuck Schumer. Sen. David Perdue is in quarantine. And Jon Ossoff is portraying Mitch McConnell as an enemy of the president.
This is the state of the races on the eve of Georgia’s dual runoff elections to determine not only who will represent the Peach State in the Senate but also which party will control the chamber when President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in later this month.
Trump Retweets Claim GOP Senator Pat Toomey 'Complicit in' Massive Election Fraud
Emily Czachor (Newsweek, 03/01/2021)
Donald Trump appeared to back his former campaign lawyer's criticism of Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey, retweeting a message that implicated the Republican legislator in "massive" election fraud.
Toomey recently spoke out against his GOP Senate colleagues, several of whom intend to challenge President-elect Joe Biden's Electoral College victory this week. Among those leading the charge are Missouri Senator Josh Hawley and Texas Senator Ted Cruz, both Republicans and known Trump allies. They intend to initiate a formal objection to the electoral vote count when Congress meets to certify the tally on Wednesday. About a dozen additional lawmakers have said they plan to oppose the certification.