The Senate Run-off Elections in Georgia: Hugely Important to the Nation as a Whole
John F. McManus

The state of Georgia has an unusual requirement for winning an election. It applies not only to who can become governor, but also includes who can represent the state in the U.S. Senate or House of Representatives.   

The requirement is easy to understand. If no candidate running for office wins a majority of the vote in the election, then top two vote-getters in that contest must face off a few weeks later in what has been termed “a run-off election.”

On November 3, Georgia voters were asked to choose two U.S. senators in separate races appearing on the same ballot. In one case, the incumbent up for reelection, Republican David Perdue, was completing his six-year term. In the other case, the incumbent, Sally Loeffler, another Republican, had been appointed a year earlier to succeed a senator who resigned due to ill health. The run-off elections for these Senate seats, to be held on January 5, developed when neither incumbent gained more than 50 percent of the vote on Election Day 2020.

{modulepos inner_text_ad}

The new Senate that will convene in January is now composed of 50 Republicans and 48 Democrats (including two independents who caucus with Democrats). Thus, at least one of the two Republican incumbents in Georgia must win in order to ensure that the Republicans retain majority control of the Senate. If both lose, then the Senate would be evenly split between 50 Republicans and 50 Democrats. And if Joe Biden and Kamala Harris also become president and vice president, as most expect, then Harris will also become the president of the Senate, giving Democrats majority control of that body. Plus, if this scenario plays out, the Democrats would also have the presidency and majority control of the House, positioning them to make huge strides with their agenda.

Thus, what happens in Georgia on January 5 is hugely important to the nation as a whole.

The Democratic opponent for the seat currently held by Republican Senator Perdue is 33-year old Jon Ossoff, who has never held any elective office. He has been described in part as:

• a puppet of the Left, supported by the U.S. Communist Party, endorsed by socialist Senator Bernie Sanders, and favored by “Progressives” (a misleading term for socialists such as New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez); 

• a believer in higher taxes for working Americans;

• a radical who wants to defund police departments; and

• a backer of complete federal takeover of America’s healthcare system. 

Reverend Raphael Warnock is the Democratic Party candidate seeking to unseat Republican Senator Loeffler. A minister, he serves on the staff of the Ebenezer Baptist Church where Martin Luther King once held the post of pastor. Years ago, Warnock was responsible for hosting Cuba’s Fidel Castro to speak at the church. He supports most of what Ossoff stands for, and he can also be considered a socialist. For his congregants, he once played a portion of the infamous “God damn America!” lecture given by Chicago’s Reverend Jeremiah Wright who was a friend of Barrack Obama.

On the other hand, the two GOP candidates — Perdue and Loeffler — are mainstream Republicans whose records in office suggest that each would apply some brakes on America’s plunge into suicidal socialism. 

Partisans for each of the four candidates have injected themselves into these two contests with personal appearances and large donations to fund expensive media ads. Record amounts of radio and television time have been purchased not only on stations located in the Peach State but in four surrounding states whose signals reach into and impact several corners of Georgia. 

Of course, how the January 5th votes are counted and reported has to be considered. Georgia is one of several states where the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate has been named the victor amidst numerous charges of fraud. If the announced presidential result wasn’t honest and hasn’t been overturned, why wouldn’t more cheating be arranged to secure tainted victories for the Democrat candidates in the Senate run-off elections? If fraud does exist and is not dealt with appropriately, the American people will have lost a major ingredient of freedom and will have allowed another major step to be taken toward totalitarian control that has already become the fate of numerous other nations.     

Georgia voters have clear choices in these two dramatically important Senate contests.  The nation awaits the results.