Your guide to Tuesday's Georgia Senate races
Who's running?
UpdatedHere are the 4 candidates running in Tuesday's races:
Sen. David Perdue
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Both of Georgia's Senate seats weren't supposed to be up for grabs in 2020.
Perdue is wrapping up a six-year term. The Republican was first elected in 2014 after running as a political outsider and former CEO of Reebok and Dollar General. In his first term, Perdue became known as one of Trump's chief defenders in the Senate.
Sen. Kelly Loeffler
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The race got shaken up in August 2019 when fellow GOP Sen. Johnny Isakson announced he was resigning because of failing health. Georgia's governor appointed Loeffler to fill the seat, but she would have to run in the November election to fill the last two years of Isakson's term.
Like Perdue, Loeffler's background was in business rather than politics. Before joining the Senate, she worked at Intercontinental Exchange, a company founded by her husband that operates the New York Stock Exchange. One of the Senate's wealthiest members, Loeffler has spent more than $20 million of her own cash running and traveled the state in her private jet.
Jon Ossoff
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As for the challengers, Ossoff and Warnock are seeking to become the first Democrats to win a U.S. Senate election in Georgia since 2000.
If he defeats Perdue, Ossoff would be the Senate's youngest member at age 33. His introduction to politics came as a college students when he interned for Georgia U.S. Rep. John Lewis, the Democrat and civil rights hero who died in July. Ossoff runs a company that produces documentary films and ran for a House seat in 2017, which he lost but proved a formidable fundraiser.
Raphael Warnock
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In the wide-open race for Loeffler's seat, Democratic leaders united early to endorse Warnock, pastor of the Atlanta church where Martin Luther King Jr. preached and one of Georgia's best-known Black ministers. Warnock's activism from the pulpit on issues such as bail reform and expanded voting rights have become centerpieces of his campaign � just as his sometimes fiery sermons have provided ammunition for attacks by Republicans.
Why is Georgia still voting?
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A voter walks to the entrance during early voting for the Senate runoff election, at Ron Anderson Recreation Center, Thursday, Dec. 17, 2020, in Powder Springs, Ga.Â
Georgia law requires candidates for Congress and state offices to win by getting more than 50% of the vote. Otherwise, races get forced into a runoff between the top two finishers.
In November, Perdue finished 88,000 votes ahead of Ossoff but fell just short of a majority with 49.7% of the vote in a three-way race that included Libertarian Shane Hazel.
What's at stake?
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Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris, left, campaigns for Democratic U.S. Senate challengers the Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, Monday, Dec. 21, 2020, in Columbus, Ga.Â
If Perdue and Loeffler both lose their seats, Republicans lose control of the U.S. Senate after six years holding a majority in the chamber.
The November elections resulted in Republicans holding 50 Senate seats and Democrats controlling 48. Only the two seats in Georgia remain undecided.
Where do things stand?
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President Donald Trump shares the stage with U.S. Sens. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., and David Perdue, R-Ga., who are both facing runoff elections Saturday, Dec. 5, 2020 during a rally in Valdosta, Ga.Â
Perdue and Loeffler have cast themselves as the last line of defense against Democratic control of Washington. But their closing arguments have been complicated by Trump siding with Democrats in calling for one-time cash payments of $2,000 for pandemic relief, an amount most congressional Republicans oppose.
Both GOP senators have said they support Trump's demand for the extra money after months of caricaturing Democrats as socialists who favor wasteful spending. Ossoff and Warnock insist their rivals haven't done enough to try to force a vote on the higher relief payments in the Senate.
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The vice president-elect's remarks were the first on-camera reaction from the incoming Biden administration to the phone call.
