Balance of power in Senate rests on Georgia's runoff elections
Fox News correspondent Jonathan Serrie has the latest from Atlanta on 'Special Report'
The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) is spotlighting that it now has more than a dozen senior officials and staffers on the ground in Georgia.
And the Senate Republican re-election arm is emphasizing that it's making “major investments” in communications, data, field and digital operations in the state’s twin Senate runoff elections, which will decide whether the GOP holds on to its majority in the chamber, or if the Democrats will control both houses of Congress and the White House.
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“This is a presidential level voter contact operation that is unprecedented and will be a key part of success for the campaigns in Georgia,” NRSC communications director Jesse Hunt told Fox News on Thursday.
Republican candidate for Senate Sen. David Perdue and his wife Bonnie reacts during a campaign stop at Peachtree Dekalb Airport Monday, Nov. 2, 2020, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
The NRSC touts that it and the campaigns of Republican Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler have hauled in over $32 million in fundraising over the past six days, as they gear up for the Jan. 5 runoff elections.
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The committee says that it was prepared for this scenario over a month ago, as NRSC leadership huddled in early October with the Perdue and Loeffler campaigns.
Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Sen. Kelly Loeffler speaks during a campaign rally Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2020, in Marietta, Ga. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
"Our teams have been working in lockstep with one another to plan for this exact scenario that ended up unfolding. I think that just speaks to the preparedness and cohesion that we’ve seen from Republicans here in Georgia since we’ve moved to these two runoffs and it bodes well for our efforts to hold the Senate majority for Republicans,” Hunt emphasized.
Hunt said that the NRSC and the two campaigns are building a “massive” field program - with contributions from the Republican National Committee - that includes 21 regional field directors and 1,000 field staff across the Peach State.
The NRSC's counterpart, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), announced earlier this week that it's planning a multimillion dollar field effort to register and turn out Georgia voters.
CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING ON THE GEORGIA RUNOFFS
The DSCC told Fox News that their efforts include on-the-ground organizers, direct mail, phones and text messaging, as well as digital mobilization efforts.
The GOP - which held a 53-47 majority heading into the 2020 elections - faced a challenging electoral map. But the Democrats' hopes of capturing a solid Senate majority in last week’s elections were dashed as Republicans overperformed.
The current balance of power coming out of the elections is 50 Republicans and 48 Democrats. That means the Democrats must win both of Georgia’s runoff elections to make it a 50-50 Senate, in which Vice President-elect Kamala Harris would be the tie-breaking vote, giving her party a razor-thin majority in the chamber.
Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate Jon Ossoff speaks during a news conference on Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2020, in Atlanta. He is facing Republican Sen. David Perdue, a top Trump ally, in a Jan. 5, 2021 runoff. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
In Georiga, where state law dictates a runoff if no candidate reaches 50% of the vote, Perdue narrowly missed out on avoiding a runoff. He currently stands at 49.75% in the count, with nearly all votes counted. His Democratic challenger, Jon Ossoff, trails by roughly 87,000 votes.
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In the other race, appointed Loeffler -- who captured nearly 26% of the vote in a whopping 20-candidate special election to fill the final two years of the term of former GOP Sen. Johnny Isakson - will face off against Democrat Raphael Warnock, who won nearly 33% of the vote.
Raphael Warnock, a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, speaks to Biden supporters as they wait for former President Barack Obama to arrive and speak at a rally as he campaigns for Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden, Monday, Nov. 2, 2020, at Turner Field in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Incoming NRSC chair Sen. Rick Scott of Florida's headed to Georgia on Friday to campaign with Loeffler and Perdue.
Scott, who takes over at the NRSC early next year, on Wednesday used his own money to launch a TV ad in Georgia that takes aim at Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer.
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