Harris stumps for Georgia Senate candidates: ‘2020 ain’t over till Jan. 5’

Vice President-elect Kamala Harris stumped for Democratic Senate candidates Jon Ossoff and the Rev. Raphael Warnock in Georgia on Monday, underscoring the importance of the two runoff races that will ultimately determine control of the Senate. 

“2020 ain’t over till Jan. 5,” Harris told supporters at a drive-in rally in Columbus, Ga. “That’s when 2020 will be over. That’s when we’ll get this thing done.” 

Ossoff will face off against incumbent Republican Sen. David Perdue (Ga.), while Warnock will go head-to-head with Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.). Polls show tight race unfolding weeks before the election. The RealClearPolitics polling average shows Perdue narrowly leading Ossoff by 1.6 points, while Loeffler holds a razor-thin 0.8 point lead over Warnock. 

President-elect Joe Biden will likely face roadblocks enacting his agenda for the first two years of his presidency if he faces a Republican-controlled Senate. A double victory from Warnock and Ossoff would give Democrats 50 senators in the upper chamber, with Harris serving as the tiebreaker vote. 

“Everything that was at stake in November is at stake leading up to Jan. 5,” Harris said on Monday. 

She went on to address calls from Republicans to implement stricter election rules ahead of the presidential election in the state and ahead of the runoffs. 

“And so we again ask as it relates to Jan. 5, the question we asked in November: why are so many powerful people trying to make it so difficult for us to vote?” she said. “We have to ask the question ‘why?’ and we know the answer because they know our power. They know when we vote, things change. They know when we vote, we win.” 

Harris and Biden made history last month when they became the first Democratic presidential ticket to carry Georgia in an election since former President Clinton in 1992. 

Democrats, led in large part by former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, drove a large get out the vote effort ahead of the presidential election, which has continued into the runoff campaigns. 

Republicans, on the other hand, have called for more restrictions, pointing to the use of drop boxes, signature requirements and the early processing of mail ballots.