It’s official – Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Jon Ossoff has been projected as the winner of his race in the Georgia runoff elections. His win, a final backhand to Donald Trump, will give Democrats control of the Senate. From the New York Times:
The Rev. Raphael Warnock defeated Senator Kelly Loeffler, becoming the first Black Democrat elected to the Senate from the South. And Jon Ossoff, the 33-year-old head of a video production company who has never held public office, defeated David Perdue, who recently completed his first full term as senator.
Both Democrats now lead their defeated Republican opponents by margins that are larger than the threshold required to trigger a recount under Georgia law.
L-R Jon Ossoff, Rev. Raphael Warnock (images via Twitter) Democrat Raphael Warnock has been projected to win his Senate race in Georgia beating Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler, and fellow Dem Jon Ossoff is currently leading in his race against GOP Sen. David Perdue by 17,000+ votes. The remaining votes to be counted are mainly in Democratic strongholds, so it’s expected that Ossoff and Warnock will only increase their leads. From the New York Times:
At a news conference, Gabriel Sterling, a top official from the Georgia secretary of state’s office, refers to Jon Ossoff as “Senator to be, probably, Ossoff.” Sterling says he anticipates that all but a few votes will be counted by 1 p.m. today and that Jon Ossoff will very likely defeat David Perdue.
With more than 60,000 absentee votes uncounted, mostly from Democratic-leaning counties, a Georgia elections official says Ossoff is the likely winner and no recount will likely be necessary.
The energy in the race has been enormous with the two Dems outpacing the Republicans in fundraising during the weeks leading up to the runoff election. Warnock becomes only the 11th Black U.S. Senator in the history of the nation and the first from Georgia. If he wins his race as expected, Ossoff will be the youngest Democratic senator to be elected since – Joe Biden. With the two wins, the U.S. Senate will be comprised of 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans leaving Vice President-elect Kamala Harris to cast tie-breaking votes. Say it with me: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. (graphic via NY Times)(graphic via NY Times)
Donald Trump (screen capture) In an extraordinary phone call between Donald Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, Trump urged Raffensperger to “find 11,780” so the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia could be reversed. The hour-long phone call was obtained by the Washington Post. From the Washington Post:
“The people of Georgia are angry, the people in the country are angry,” he [Trump] said. “And there’s nothing wrong with saying, you know, um, that you’ve recalculated.”
Raffensperger responded: “Well, Mr. President, the challenge that you have is, the data you have is wrong.”
At another point, Trump said: “So look. All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state.”
The rambling, at times incoherent conversation, offered a remarkable glimpse of how consumed and desperate the president remains about his loss, unwilling or unable to let the matter go and still believing he can reverse the results in enough battleground states to remain in office.
“There’s no way I lost Georgia,” Trump said, a phrase he repeated again and again on the call. “There’s no way. We won by hundreds of thousands of votes.”
You can listen to the excerpts below.
In addition to being harmful to our democratic process, Trump’s desperation is really very sad and pathetic. He continued his empty, baseless claims on Twitter, of course.
Respectfully, President Trump: What you're saying is not true. The truth will come out https://t.co/ViYjTSeRcC
— GA Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (@GaSecofState) January 3, 2021
Now that we've heard a recording of the actual call, Donald is revealed to be the corrupt liar is always is. Sad.https://t.co/EoevoqKvKI
Donald Trump called for the Republican governor of Georgia, Brian Kemp, to resign from office today because Kemp wouldn’t attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. After counting the ballots three times in the Peach State, the results show President-elect Joe Biden won the state by 12,000 votes. Trump also tried to allege that some kind of conspiracy theory that Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s brother works for China and somehow figures into the mix. By the way, did I mention Brad Raffensperger doesn’t have a brother? In related news, the Atlanta-Journal Constitution reports an audit of over 15,000 voter signatures from the election didn’t find a single fraudulent absentee ballot as Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed. The report by the Georgia secretary of state’s office released Tuesday. From the AJC: “There were 10 absentee ballots that had been accepted but voter signatures didn’t match or signatures were missing, according to the report. But agents from the GBI and investigators with the secretary of state’s office contacted those voters and confirmed they had submitted those ballots.”
Hearings from Atlanta on the Georgia Election overturn now being broadcast. Check it out. @OANN@newsmax and many more. @BrianKempGA should resign from office. He is an obstructionist who refuses to admit that we won Georgia, BIG! Also won the other Swing States.
…The consent decree signed by the “Secretary”, with the consent of Kemp, is perhaps even more poorly negotiated than the deal that John Kerry made with Iran. Now it turns out that Brad R’s brother works for China, and they definitely don’t want “Trump”. So disgusting! #MAGA
Read the Georgia Secretary of State’s report on the Cobb County signature audit that found one missing signature and one mistaken signature out of 15k. #gapol
Highlight: “no fraudulent absentee ballots were identified.” Story in the morning.
The two Democratic candidates in the Georgia Senate runoff races for U.S. Senate are far outpacing their Republican opponents in fundraising. From Fox News:
Democrat Jon Ossoff, who is taking on Republican Sen. David Perdue, took in more than $106 million from Oct. 15 through Dec. 16, according to his latest campaign finance report.
The Rev. Raphael Warnock, the Democrat trying to unseat Sen. Kelly Loeffler, was close behind with a little over $103 million.
Perdue reported $68 million over the same two-month span, with Loeffler collecting just under $64 million. Three of the campaigns reported their financial data on Thursday. Loeffler submitted hers a day earlier.
The two races will determine which party will control the Senate in 2021. If the Democrats win both seats, there will be 50 Dems and 50 Republicans in the chamber, but with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris – who serves as president of the Senate – control would swing to the Democrats.
According to The Hill, the folks in Georgia are fired up and showing up to vote in the upcoming runoff election for two U.S. Senators that will decide who controls the Senate in the next year.
Roughly 168,000 Georgians went to the polls on Monday, the first day to vote early in-person in the state’s two critical Senate runoff elections, according to numbers provided by the Georgia secretary of state’s office. By comparison, some 128,000 voted on the first day of early voting for the November general election.
Another 314,000 people cast absentee ballots on the first day of the early-voting period.
The first-day early in-person turnout broke a record previously set in October when early in-person voting began for the 2020 general election.
Georgia doesn’t break down early voting by political party, so not sure if these are Democrats or Republicans, or both showing up. The U.S. Elections Project reports 24,000 voters who did not take part in the general election have cast ballots in the runoff election so far.
The men of Atlanta’s world-famous Swinging Richards want you to get your ‘pole to the polls’ and help ‘swing the Senate.’ As the guys spell out so vividly, Georgia will decide on January 5 which political party will control the U.S. Senate. So, if you live in the Peach State, make sure you vote in the runoff elections. Blah, blah, blah… On to the video and the guys 🙂
Producers Seth Rudetsky and James Wesley, alongside Broadway superstar Audra McDonald, director Schele Williams, and Broadway Inspirational Voices’ Joseph Joubert and Michael McElroy, announced today that they have released a very special recording and music video of the beloved song “Georgia On My Mind” to mark the first day of voting for the January 5th Georgia Senate runoff elections. “Now more than ever it is crucial for every American to have access to the resources to make their voices heard during an election, whether that be on a national scale, or in their local races,” said 6-time Tony Award-winner Audra McDonald. L-R Tony Award winners Kelli O’Hara, Billy Porter, Audra McDonald “We are in awe of the work that Stacey Abrams and Fair Fight have been doing to ensure that that is a reality for all Georgians, and knew that we wanted to raise our own voices to raise awareness about this important election in the way we know best – through music.” The song will help to raise funds and awareness for Fair Fight’s work to ensure that every eligible Georgian has the resources and information they need to vote in the January 5th runoff election. Clearly, there was no lack of all-star talent as stage and screen stars from all over the country contributed from the safety of their own homes. Tony Award winners Bernadette Peters, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Idina Menzel Those joining McDonald, Rudetsky, and Wesley include: Danielle Brooks, Andréa Burns, Allyson Kaye Daniel, Raúl Esparza, Santino Fontana, Josh Gad, Renee Elise Goldsberry, Mandy Gonzalez, Celia Rose Gooding, Angela Grovey, Crystal Monee Hall, Wilson Jermaine-Heredia, Carly Hughes, James Monroe Iglehart, Jeremy Jordan, LaChanze, José Llana, Allen Louis, Beth Malone, Anastasia McClesky, Michael McElroy, Idina Menzel, Ruthie Ann Miles, Bonnie Milligan, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Jessie Mueller, Javier Muñoz, Jesse Nager, Kelli O’Hara, Adam Pascal, Steve Pasquale, Peppermint, Rosie Perez, Bernadette Peters, Ben Platt, Billy Porter, Conrad Ricamora, Lauren Ridloff, Jai Rodriguez, Anika Noni Rose, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Rashidra Scott, Keala Settle, Ephraim Sikes, Phillipa Soo, Will Swenson, Chris Sullivan, Anastacia Talley, Tracie Thoms, Allyson Tucker, Leslie Uggams, Blair Underwood, Jenna Ushkowitz, Fredi Walker, Adrienne Warren, Susan Kelechi Watson, Lillias White, NaTasha Yvette Williams, Schele Williams, Vanessa Williams, and BD Wong. The song is available on all digital download sites as well as Broadway Records.com. The arrangement is artful taking its time to build and build and build. Bravo!
Donald Trump, Gov. Brian Kemp Even after making the Governor of Georgia his punching bag, Donald Trump reportedly called on Gov. Brian Kemp this morning asking him to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in his state. From the Washington Post:
President Trump called Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) on Saturday morning to urge him to persuade the state legislature to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the state and asked the governor to order an audit of absentee ballot signatures, the latest brazen effort by the president to interfere in the 2020 election.
Hours before he was scheduled to hold a rally in Georgia on behalf of the state’s two GOP senators, Trump pressed Kemp to call a special session of the state legislature to get lawmakers to override the results and appoint electors that would back him, according to a person familiar with the conversation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private call.
He also asked the governor to demand an audit of signatures on mail ballots, something Kemp has previously noted he has no power to do.
Trump went on to question whether Kemp was a real Republican in a tweet wherein he publicly called on the governor to permit the ‘simple signature verification.’ But Georgia state law prohibits the governor from interfering in elections. After Kemp responded to Trump’s tweet saying he’s publicly called for the signature audit in the past, Trump came back at Kemp again. In related news, the Trump campaign lost legal challenges in six states on Friday.
As I told the President this morning, I’ve publicly called for a signature audit three times (11/20, 11/24, 12/3) to restore confidence in our election process and to ensure that only legal votes are counted in Georgia. #gapolhttps://t.co/xdXrhf1vI2
Some news items you might have missed: • Edge Media: A new report published by the Washington Post suggests that President-elect Joe Biden may have won the 2020 election because of higher LGBTQ voter turnout. • Pew Research: A new poll shows 60% of American adults say they will get vaccinated for the coronavirus, up from 51% in September. • CNBC: Sidney Powell, who has already been booted from the Trump legal team, asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit to order Georgia officials to “preserve all data on the Dominion System” and allow “Republican Electors to audit” that system in 10 counties. Finding it has no jurisdiction to hear the appeal, the 11th Circuit Court sent the Kraken lawsuit back to its cage in the District Court.
Breaking: A federal appellate court has rejected Sidney Powell and Lin Wood’s appeal in the so-called Kraken case filed in Georgia. https://t.co/atqc5WIrNJ
• Nevada Independent: A Carson City District Court judge rejected a legal request to award the state’s six electoral votes to Donald Trump. Judge James Russell ruled that he found the evidence offered by the Trump campaign to have “little to no value,” and failed to provide under any standard of proof that the campaign’s long list of alleged fraud and vote irregularities could be backed up under any evidentiary standard. • Detroit Free Press: Team Trump also lost in Michigan today as well. The court chastised the campaign for dragging its feet on the appeal, said the certification of Michigan’s election results by the Board of State Canvassers in the interim had made the lawsuit moot, and said that if the Trump campaign wanted to challenge the results it could have requested a recount, but it did not. • WXKY Radio: New York Young Republicans hoped to keep the New Jersey location of their annual fundraiser a secret but were outed by folks tweeting from the party. Jersey City chief prosecutor Jake Hudnut responded to a tweet by an attendee taunting New York Gov. Cuomo to “come and get me” by tweeting “Gov. Cuomo may not be able to ‘come and get’ you, but I can.”
It’s official – Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Jon Ossoff has been projected as the winner of his race in the Georgia runoff elections. His win, a final backhand to Donald Trump, will give Democrats control of the Senate. From the New York Times: 
