Biden, Harris to hit campaign trail in Georgia in final days before Senate runoffs

President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris are set to hit the campaign trail in Georgia ahead of the state’s pivotal Senate runoff elections next week.

Harris and Biden will arrive in the state Sunday and Monday, respectively, where they will campaign for the Rev. Raphael Warnock (D) and Jon Ossoff (D). Democrats need to win both seats on Jan. 5 to gain a 50-50 split in the upper chamber, which would make Harris the potential tie-breaker on any votes.

Their trips to Georgia will coincide with an event President Trump is having in the state Monday evening as he attempts to protect the GOP Senate majority as one of his last acts before Biden takes office Jan. 20.

A campaign official familiar with fundraising numbers told CNN that Biden has also been involved in direct fundraising for the two candidates and has raised around $10 million.

Georgia’s Senate race has remained extremely tight, according to polls, and incumbent Sens. David Perdue (R) and Kelly Loeffler (R) have both faced pressure over the Senate’s reluctance to support larger direct relief payments to millions of Americans amid the coronavirus pandemic.

A bid to raise the payments from $600 to $2,000, supported by both senators, looks likely to die in the Senate, where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has tied the proposal to boost the payments with a package that would establish a commission into voter fraud and repeal Section 230, a provision of law providing liability protections for websites such as Twitter and Facebook. Both measures would likely be a deal-breaker for Democrats.

Turnout in the Georgia runoffs is expected to rival presidential election-year levels, with some experts pointing to surges of early voting in Democratic strongholds as a positive sign for Democrats in the state.

Biden won the state in November, becoming the first Democratic presidential candidate to win there since President Clinton in 1992.