GA Senate Election: Both High-Stakes Races Could End In Runoffs

GEORGIA — Both of Georgia's U.S. Senate seats are on the ballot Nov. 3, and could affect whether the Republican party retains control of the chamber. Democrats are targeting vulnerable GOP senators nationwide in hopes of cracking Sen. Mitch McConnell's hold on the Senate and curbing President Donald Trump's ability to appoint conservative federal judges.

Voters are headed to the polls Nov. 3 to make their choice in the presidential election, U.S. House and U.S. Senate, as well as state constitutional amendments and local tax referendums.

Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Election Day. If you are in line by 7 p.m., you are allowed to cast your ballot.

The Republicans have held a 53-47 seat majority in the U.S. Senate since 2014.

Twelve GOP senators have competitive races Tuesday, Fox News reports, while only two Democrats are in jeopardy. Democrats are most likely to oust incumbent Sens. Cory Gardner in Colorado, Martha McSally in Arizona, Thom Tillis in North Carolina and Susan Collins in Maine.

“It's a 50-50 proposition," McConnell said Wednesday of the odds of keeping the Senate under GOP control. "We have a lot of exposure. ... There are dogfights all over the country."

Both Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and President Trump have campaigned in Georgia in recent days. Trump was in Rome late Sunday night for a rally, and both incumbent senators supported him in hopes that his voters turn out to help their re-election chances.

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Sen. David Perdue appeared with Trump on Sunday, instead of attending the last scheduled Senate debate. Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff's attacks against Perdue during Wednesday's debate went viral, and Perdue backed out of the final debate the next day.

"It's not just that you're a crook, Senator," Ossoff said, referring to Perdue's controversial stock trades (the senator has denied wrongdoing, saying that all transactions are handled by a third-party investment adviser). "It's that you're attacking the health of the people that you represent."

Ossoff denounced Perdue for voting four times to allow health insurance companies to forgo coverage of pre-existing conditions like asthma.

Perdue accused Ossoff of being a "rubber stamp" for liberals' wishes and of hiding his true "radical socialist agenda."

The men are both polling at 47 percent, which could send that race to a runoff.

In false ads that have deluged Georgia TV markets, Perdue accused Ossoff of wanting to defund the police and said the Democrat receives support from the Communist Party USA. Ossoff has said he does not want to defund the police and the claim about the Communist Party USA is "flatly false," the Associated Press has previously reported.

Sen. Kelly Loeffler — who refers to herself as a "100 percent Trump voting record" — also met Trump in Rome. The wealthy businesswoman is in a crowded race for her first full term after she was appointed by Gov. Brian Kemp in January to fill Johnny Isakson's seat.

A new poll for WSB-TV shows Loeffler trailing in the open Senate race with Democrat Raphael Warnock in the lead at 37 percent, Loeffler next at 25 percent and Rep. Doug Collins at 23 percent. If none of the candidates receives 50 percent of the vote, the race will go to a January runoff between the top two finishers.

Loeffler drew scrutiny last week when she said she is "not familiar" with President Donald Trump's widely reported comments on "Access Hollywood" boasting about sexually assaulting women that came to light during the 2016 campaign.

The president's comments resurfaced as Loeffler said in an interview on Wednesday she doesn't disagree with Trump on any issue. When a reporter then asked if she disagreed with Trump's comments about grabbing women, Loeffler only said she agreed with Trump's approach "since Day One to put America First."

When pressed about the infamous tapes, Loeffler said, "I'm not familiar with that."

Marjorie Taylor Greene, the presumptive winner of a U.S. Congressional seat on Tuesday, has endorsed Loeffler.

Loeffler cited her opposition to abortion and her support of 2nd Amendment rights as other traits she shared with Greene. "And just like Marjorie, I've taken on the radical left, cancel culture and fake news media — and won," Loeffler said.

Over the summer, Georgia Republicans distanced themselves from Greene after Politico discovered Facebook videos showing her expressing Islamophobic and anti-Semitic opinions. Still, Greene handily won the Republican nomination in an August runoff to represent Georgia's 14th Congressional District.

Trump confidant Roger Stone will campaign with Collin in Gwinnett County on Monday in an effort to boost conservative support.

Stone in a video announcing the campaign stop Monday praised Collins as a “solid conservative who will stand up to the deep state,” The Hill reported.

“We must defeat the very same establishment forces that tried to stop President Donald Trump’s election and then tried to ruin it. We need men like Doug Collins,” Stone said. “Let’s make America great again by putting Doug Collins in the U.S. Senate and Donald Trump back in the White House.”

Warnock, the senior pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta which was once led by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., brings a voice to civil rights discussions.

His campaign ads tell his story of overcoming poverty from a childhood in a Savannah housing project. He said children there today “have it harder now than I did back then. That’s got to change.”

Warnock, a progressive Democrat, supports Medicaid expansion under Obamacare and was arrested in Washington for protesting proposed budget cuts to social services, The New York Times reports. He supports abortion rights and gay marriage.