Democrats could still take Senate as two Georgia races head to run-off

According to Georgia state rules, a candidate must win 50% of the vote.

By David Isaac, World Israel News

It appeared that Democratic hopes for a “blue wave” had dwindled as the Republicans held onto the Senate after Election Day. Now it looks like Democratic hopes are still alive as not one, but two Georgia Senate races are heading to a run-off.

Although two races in Alaska and North Carolina have not been called, Republicans are leading, putting them on track for a 50-48 majority. But with Georgia in play there’s a possibility that Democrats can seize control. They would need to win both races. That would put Democrats and Republicans at 50-50 apiece. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris would provide the tie-breaker.

According to Georgia state rules, a candidate must win at least 50% of the vote. If not, the race goes to a runoff. Neither of the Republican candidates — Kelly Loeffler nor David Perdue — passed that threshold, meaning another two months of campaigning until the run-off election on Jan. 5.

Loeffler faces off against Raphael Warnock. Purdue is up against Jon Ossoff.

If the Democrats succeed in turning Georgia red, it would put Democrats in charge of both chambers of Congress, giving them the ability to make good on their promises to end the filibuster, turn Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. into states and pack the Supreme Court.

What it means for Israel is uncertain, though progressive elements in the Democratic party have threatened to tie U.S. military aid to Israeli policy in Judea and Samaria. Biden on the campaign trail had rejected tying aid to Israeli policy, which would be an unprecedented development in U.S.-Israel relations.

In a Jewish Insider article on Republican Jewish reaction to the election, Fred Zeidman, a Houston-based GOP donor said, “I’m not near as concerned for the State of Israel as I would have been had we not kept the Senate — because I do have some real trepidation about the next administration’s leanings on the Israel issues.”

Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer told the Insider, “GOP control of the Senate is a brake on extremism.”

“Now you cannot abolish the filibuster, you cannot pack the courts, you cannot create new overwhelmingly Democratic states,” Fleischer said.

January 5 will reveal if they spoke too soon.

2020 U.S. electionsDemocratsGeorgia