Georgia Runoff: A Sprint to the Finish

2021 will bring big news early.  The results of the Georgia runoff are extremely important to the future of America.  With the election only a few short days away there have already been plenty of votes cast.  

This is a very big election because it could very well determine who holds the majority in the Senate.  Democrats Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock are running against Republicans David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler (Steinhauser).  

As of Thursday morning, 2.8 million people have already voted in this election.  The early vote bodes well for the Democratic nominees.  “Democrats are optimistic about the chances of challengers Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock defeating Republican Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler based on the early-vote numbers” (Steinhauser).  

A runoff election is a unique situation in itself.  According to Ballotpedia, it is “a second election held to determine a winner when no candidate in the first election met the required threshold for victory.”  

David Perdue is a native Georgian.  His resume includes having been the CEO of both Reebok and Dollar General.  He also has known his wife since the two were in first grade.  Some of his focuses are term limits, dealing with the national debt, and finding ways to grow the economy (perdue.senate.gov).  

Jon Ossoff, Perdue’s opponent, also has CEO experience.  He is the CEO of Insight TWI, which according to his website, is a “media production company that investigates corruption, organized crime, and war crimes for international news organizations.”  Some of Ossoff’s policies are centered around affordable health care, clean energy, as well as criminal justice reform (electjon.com).

Kelly Loeffler, like Perdue and Ossoff, also hails from a business background.  She is concerned with things like fair trade, affordable health care for Georgia, and national security (kellyforsenate.com).  

Reverend Raphael Warnock, who is running against Loeffler, is the youngest pastor in the history of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.  Some of his focus is on voting rights, infrastructure, and education (warnockforgeorgia.com).  

“About David: U.S. Senator David Perdue of Georgia.” Meet David | U.S. Senator David Perdue of Georgia, http://www.perdue.senate.gov/about/david.

“About.” Warnock for Georgia, 2 Nov. 2020, warnockforgeorgia.com/about/.

Jon Ossoff for U.S. Senate, 11 Nov. 2020, electjon.com/.

“Meet Kelly.” Kelly Loeffler, 25 Aug. 2020, kellyforsenate.com/meet-kelly/.

“Runoff Election.” Ballotpedia, ballotpedia.org/Runoff_election.

Steinhauser, Paul. “GOP Looks for Big Georgia Runoff-Election Turnout to Top Dems’ Early-Voting Advantage.” Fox News, FOX News Network, 31 Dec. 2020, http://www.foxnews.com/politics/georgia-election-day-turnout-republicans-democrats-early-voting.