Former President Obama cut three digital ads in support of the Rev. Raphael Warnock ahead of the Georgia Senate runoffs in January that will determine control of the Senate.
Obama, who remains one of the most popular figures in the Democratic Party, called on Georgians to turn out on Jan. 5 to support Warnock, who is challenging Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R). That race, along with the runoff pitting Jon Ossoff against Sen. David Perdue (R), will determine control of the next Senate, in which Republicans currently have a 50-48 advantage.
“John Lewis wrote that ‘Democracy is not a state. It is an act.’ Georgia, the time to act is now. Let’s send Raphael Warnock to the Senate to make progress for all of us,” Obama says in one ad, referring to the late Georgia congressman and civil rights titan.
“If we want Joe Biden to succeed in tackling this virus and getting folks back to work, we need Raphael Warnock in the Senate,” he adds in another.
Obama’s involvement in the race underscores the runoff’s importance. The ads are just the latest in an avalanche of videos, with the campaigns and outside groups already dropping over $450 million in ad reservations, according to tracking firm AdImpact.
The former president already put some skin in the game last month when he traveled to Georgia on Nov. 2 to stump for now-President-elect Joe Biden and Warnock and Ossoff. And earlier this month he held a virtual rally for both Senate candidates and cut a campaign ad for Ossoff.
Biden this week also appeared in a campaign ad urging Georgians to back Warnock and Ossoff, saying they’d be important allies in Washington.
“My administration is preparing to beat COVID-19 and get economic relief to the American people,” said Biden. “Let me be clear, I need Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff in the United States Senate to get this done.”
Should Warnock and Ossoff win their runoffs, Democrats will have a 50-50 majority in the Senate with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris having the ability to cast tie-breaking votes.
While runoffs have historically favored Republicans in Georgia, Democrats are high on their chances in the runoffs after Biden became the first Democratic presidential candidate since 1992 to win the Peach State with the help of a spike in turnout in Atlanta and its suburbs.