Vice President Mike Pence is headed Georgia to campaign for Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, incumbent Republicans on the ballot in a pair of Jan. 5 runoff elections that will determine the balance of power in the Senate.
Pence will parachute into the state Friday for a bus tour across heavily Republican counties north of Atlanta, with plans to join Perdue and Loeffler at “Defend the Majority” rallies in Canton and Gainesville. Republicans finished the general election with 50 Senate seats. A blue sweep in the Georgia runoffs would knot the chamber at 50 each, handing the majority to the Democrats on the basis of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris’s tie-breaking vote.
Perdue, seeking a second term, finished ahead of Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff on Nov. 3 but fell short of the 50% needed to avoid a runoff. Loeffler, appointed to the Senate in January by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, finished behind Democrat Raphael Warnock in a special election primary held the same day. Both Republicans are campaigning as a ticket, warning a double defeat would hand President-elect Joe Biden a blank check in Congress.
Georgia emerged as a battleground state in this year’s elections, with Biden becoming the first Democrat since 1992 to win the state’s Electoral College votes. That has prompted Republicans to mobilize an all-hands-on-deck campaign to boost Perdue and Loeffler in the upcoming runoffs. Unknown is whether Trump will join other prominent Republicans who have flooded the state this month to lend a hand, although he has voiced support for the senators on Twitter.
“I strongly stand with Kelly and David. They are both great and must WIN!” Trump tweeted Monday. He continues to contest the outcome of the presidential election in Georgia.
I strongly stand with Kelly & David. They are both great and MUST WIN! https://t.co/eqr95Lc2aC
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 16, 2020
