Voting ends on Wednesday evening, Poland time. Opinion polls do not indicate any clear leaders, although in both cases there is slight reference to the Democrats. However, the differences are so slight that anything can still happen. Consequently, the stakes in these additional elections are very high, which translates into a great interest in overtime, which is often forgotten.
Currently in a hundred seats Senate The United States has 50 members in the Republican Party and 48 members of the Democratic Party. If the Democrats win both votes, they will gain a majority in practice. In balance, the vice president gets an extra crucial vote. Soon a Democrat, Kamala Harris. In such a scenario, the Democratic Party would have a president, the House of Representatives, and the Senate – almost complete control of the United States. Of the major centers of power, only the Supreme Court will remain conservative.
Entrepreneur versus pastor and activist
Additional elections had to be held because during the November vote (parallel to the election of the president), in both cases none of the candidates won more than half of the vote. The situation was complicated by the fact that one of the votes was in a special procedure, without the primaries (it was assumed that a successor was chosen SenatorWho resigned prematurely from his term in 2019 due to health reasons). This means that instead of the usual two and three candidates, there were ten each, Democrat, Republican, and potential Independent.
In the second round, the voters choose between the two candidates who achieved the best results in the first round. This means that Republican David Purdue, who sits in the Senate to defend his state, and Democrat John Ousoff, are both measured in one electoral district. The former is a professional consultant, manager, and entrepreneur, incl. Former vice president of Reebok. A specialist in moving production from the USA to Asia, he today announced his commitment to the “America First!” Narrative. He is considered an ally of Trump.
Official photo of Senator Purdue. He is currently in quarantine and does not personally participate in the campaign Foot. U.S. congress
John Usoff is a professional activist and politician who is over half his life (aged 34), and for several years has also been involved in journalism and documentary creation. In 2017, he tried to win a seat in Congress through another special election, but lost slightly. He is recognized as a member of the Democrats’ most conservative wing.
Ossoff at a rally Foot. Michael Hulahan / AP
In the second district, Republican Kelly Loeffler and Democrat Rafael Warnock are fighting for a place after Johnny Isaacson (R), who resigned in 2020. She has spent most of her career as a manager and specialist in marketing and communications at several companies. In 2019, the state’s governor nominated her to replace Senator Johnny Isaacson, who resigned due to health reasons. It was a surprising move, but Loeffler quickly established herself as a staunch supporter of Trump, proudly describing itself as “the state’s most conservative republic.”
Kelly Loeffler at a rally Foot. Michael Hulahan / AP
Her rival, Raphael Warnock, is a pastor. He entered the state’s political life in 2014, when he became involved in a campaign to expand government healthcare for the poor. Later he joined the Democratic Party. He belongs to the left wing of the Democrats and is supported by politicians like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.
Raphael Warnock at a rally Foot. Michael Hulahan / AP
Trump’s support is ambiguous
According to the average of recent polls results, in both cases the Democrats have an advantage of about two percentage points. It is so little that nothing is certain. So the mobilization of both parties was very high and the campaign was intense. They even participated in it President Donald Trump card And President-elect Joe Biden. Although it is difficult to clearly assess the influence of the former, because in his traditional style he did not behave in a predictable way.
In his attempts to change the outcome of the presidential election, Trump clashed sharply with the leaders of the Republican Party in Georgia. They confirmed the November vote, which Biden won slightly. Now the president and his allies are brutally attacking them, citing treachery. In the recent rally for Purdue and Lovler, Trump stated, among other things:
I will be here in a year and a half (there will be another election after that – editor) and I will campaign against your governor and your crazy foreign minister.
The outgoing president also used the rally to promote conspiracy theories about the mass election fraud and the fact that “his victory has been stolen.” There are concerns among Republicans that such a narrative, which strikes at local leaders and structures and emphasizes unfounded election theories, would deter some supporters of moderate parties from voting.
On Monday, a video was released of a conversation between Trump and state officials (including “crazy Secretary of State” Brad Ravensberger) in which the president pressured them to do more to alter the election results. They had to “find” the 12,000 votes needed to win. Threatened them with legal consequences.
Instead, Loeffler and Purdue are playing the fear card of the “leftist extremist wave” that would engulf the United States if the Republican Party lost the Senate. This narrative was presented very clearly at a recent gathering by Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr.
“Don’t let Georgia start a radical left turn for the US Senate, because they put in such extremists. There is no such thing as a moderate democracy. This party no longer exists. Now it is a Marxist socialist party, a communist party.”
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The struggle to mobilize voters
As a result of this tense situation and the high rates, there was a great crowd among voters for this type of additional election. According to preliminary information, more than three million people voted early, nearly half of all eligible voters. This record result worries Republicans as it shows a strong mobilization of Democratic supporters, more willing to vote ahead of schedule and by mail. So they will need a lot of mobilization for their constituents to win now, on voting day.
But at the moment, turnout is about 20 percent lower than in the presidential elections, which is not surprising. Usually this kind of extra time was much less, which mainly affected Democrats, whose voters are less disciplined. Especially the blacks whose votes were decisive in Biden’s victory. Over the past few weeks, the Democratic Party has done everything it can to maintain their crowd.
Election commissions are open until 19:00 local time, which is 1:00 a.m. Polish time. However, we will not be able to know the result immediately. As was the case with the presidential vote, the record number of postal votes still needs to be added. As in November, Republicans will likely lead at first, but things will change after that. It is also very likely that the votes will be recounted because the differences between the two candidates will be small.
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