The Daily - A Guide to Georgia’s Senate Runoffs

In three weeks, an election will take place that could be as important as the presidential vote in determining the course of the next four years. The Jan. 5 runoff elections in Georgia will determine whether two Republican senators, David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, keep their seats. If their Democratic challengers, Jon Ossoff and the Rev. Raphael Warnock, both win, Democrats would claim control of the Senate, giving President-Elect Joe Biden expanded power to realize his policy agenda. Today, we offer a guide to the two Senate races in Georgia. Guest: Astead W. Herndon, a national political reporter for The New York Times. For an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. You can read the latest edition here. Background reading: In the runoffs, Republicans are focusing attacks on the Rev. Raphael Warnock, portraying him as radical, a claim he has rejected.Some Atlanta suburbs that used to be “blood red” went blue in November. After helping deliver the presidency to Democrats, we examined whether they might give them the Senate, too. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily

Duration: 34m
Broadcast on: 11 Dec 2020
Audio Format: other

In three weeks, an election will take place that could be as important as the presidential vote in determining the course of the next four years.

The Jan. 5 runoff elections in Georgia will determine whether two Republican senators, David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, keep their seats. If their Democratic challengers, Jon Ossoff and the Rev. Raphael Warnock, both win, Democrats would claim control of the Senate, giving President-Elect Joe Biden expanded power to realize his policy agenda.

Today, we offer a guide to the two Senate races in Georgia.

Guest: Astead W. Herndon, a national political reporter for The New York Times.

For an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. You can read the latest edition here.

Background reading:

In the runoffs, Republicans are focusing attacks on the Rev. Raphael Warnock, portraying him as radical, a claim he has rejected.
Some Atlanta suburbs that used to be “blood red” went blue in November. After helping deliver the presidency to Democrats, we examined whether they might give them the Senate, too.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

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this podcast is supported by TikTok. Sometimes the most interesting discoveries are the ones you weren't looking for. That happens every day on TikTok. A science experiment can spark a whole new interest. A recipe you stumble upon can become a meal you make for the people you love. And a restaurant you've never heard of might become your new favorite spot. That's the thing about TikTok. Follow your curiosity and see where it leads. Your next discovery is waiting on TikTok. From the New York Times, I'm Michael Bobaro. This is a daily. In three weeks, an election will take place that may be as important as the presidential election in determining the course of the next four years. Today, my colleague, Astad Herndon, with a guide to the two Senate races in Georgia. It's Friday, December 11th. As said, to recap a bit of political history, there are two Senate races underway in Georgia, because for a variety of reasons and quirks within Georgia's election system, these races were not resolved in November. Nobody won them outright. And that left the future balance of the Senate uncertain. It will all be decided by what happens in these Georgia runoffs. If the Democrats win both seats, they'll control the Senate. If Republicans win one or both, they will retain power. And so it now seems like the entire country's political machinery, its fundraising muscle, and its media might have all converged on this single state. And you have been in Georgia. So what has that been like? You know, in Georgia, it feels like the general election has a sort of overtime or a fifth quarter. I'm John Ossoff, and the path to recovery is clear. First, we listen to medical experts to control this virus. I'm David Perdue, and I approve this message. John Ossoff and Chuck Schumer have been caught in a lie. The same level of intensity around organizing, around energy, around money has flown into the Senate races, and has really made living and being in this state feel like a time capsule from the summer. Every commercial on television is basically about this race. I'm Kelly Loeffler. I approve this message. Raphael Warnock's talking puppies because he doesn't want you to hear this. Every digital advertisement, if you're trying to watch a video on the internet, is about this race. She makes sale after sale. Kelly's for Kelly. Warnock is for us. I'm Raphael Warnock, and I approve this message. It has taken over the state, partly because there's just so much national interest about the result. Okay, so let me start. A very basic question. A question I suspect a lot of people have right now. Which party is favored in these two Senate races? Can we say that right now one way or another? We can't really talk about a favorite because the margins we know are going to be so small, and there are things here that give Democrats some signs of hope, but also give Republicans some signs that they could be the ones to pull this out. Will Democrats come out in the same numbers that we saw in November? Will the voters, who some of them who did not like President Trump back some Republicans further down the ballot, will they have that ticket splitting? Will Republicans base be as motivated without Trump on the ballot, particularly as he's been criss-crossing the state and the country, making arguments about voter fraud that have no basis in fact or evidence? Will Democrats be able to inspire people on a policy-based message? What you hear is that it's not just about removing Trump, it should be about giving President Biden the latitude to make big policy investments. Is that something that voters want or is that they just wanted to remove a uniquely divisive incumbent president? I think that all of those things kind of work in tandem to create a really murky picture where we don't know who is the favorite per se, but we do know the election will be very close and each side expects it to be within maybe two percentage points of a difference. Given that backdrop and these unanswered questions, these pretty messy dynamics, tell me about these two races and how the four candidates within them are approaching this contest in this post-November political environment. The races feel both like a dual kind of joint ticket to Republicans versus to Democrats, but also has some unique kind of distinctions between them. When we think about the race between Senator David Perdue and Democrat John Ossoff, David Perdue is a kind of tried and true

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