WASHINGTON – Georgia voters head to the polls Tuesday for a pair of runoff elections that will determine control of the U.S. Senate, marking the end of the tumultuous 2020 election cycle that saw Republicans make gains in Congress while losing the White House.
The elections are being held as President Donald Trump continues to allege without evidence that widespread voter fraud in Georgia caused his loss to Joe Biden on Nov. 3. Republicans are worried those claims – punctuated by Trump's extraordinary phone call Saturday when he tried to pressure GOP state officials to overturn November's election – could discourage GOP voters from turning out Tuesday.
"I just want to find 11,780 votes," Trump said on an audio recording first obtained by The Washington Post. The number refers to the margin Trump needed to beat Biden.
Peach State voters will decide whether Republicans David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler return to Washington or if Democratic challengers Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock take their place. All four ran Nov. 3, but none got enough votes under state law to win the Senate seats outright, forcing Tuesday's runoffs.
