Georgia elections will determine United States Senate control and the Puerto Rican population is already splashed

Washington DC – Control of the United States Senate – which will mark Joe Biden’s presidency, including on issues related to Puerto Rico – will be decided on Tuesday in two second rounds in Georgia that highlight interest in the Latino community in that state. fueled and splashed the island.

Democrats Jon Ossoff, a documentary maker who nearly won a congressional seat in 2017, and Reverend Raphael Warnock, pastor of Atlanta Ebenezer Baptist Church, to which civil rights icon Martin Luther King was linked, are the challengers of Republican senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler.

In the general election, Perdue received 49.7% of the vote, compared to 47.9% for Ossoff. A third candidate from the Libertarian Party obtained 2.3%. Warnock, for his part, finished up front in the first round with 32.9% of the vote.

In a race with 21 candidates, Loeffler – who was named to replace former Senator Johnny Isakson – finished second with 25.9%.

After three million voters voted ahead of time, a process ending Dec. 31, recent polls have put them pretty much right.

“The two (Democrats) have a good chance of winning,” said former Democratic Congressman Luis Gutiérrez, who campaigned in Georgia for Ossoff and Warnock in mid-December, alongside Democratic Congressman Hank Johnson.

During his activities in Georgia, aimed at mobilizing the Spanish voice and that of other communities, Gutiérrez met with Ossoff, who, after approval from a state for Puerto Rico, gave his support to the project that Puerto Rican Democratic congressmen Nydia Velázquez would present again during this session. and Alexandria Ocasio Cortez advocated linking Congress with a Status Convention dedicated to convening the island’s government.

Gutiérrez temporarily stopped supporting Ossoff a few weeks ago, pending his support for a self-determination process, after the local referendum in which 52.5% supported the proposal that Puerto Rico be the 51st state of the United States. .

“It is clear that he is in favor of Nydia Velázquez’s proposal,” said Gutiérrez.

Although Ossoff was briefly in favor of a state for the island, the issue has found little resonance in the state, said Republican Javier Ortiz, who served on Donald Trump’s transition committee and has his primary residence in Atlanta.

But Ortiz said that “Ossoff’s perspective of turning Puerto Rico and Washington DC into states translates into a far-left agenda in certain parts of Georgia.”

Perdue and Loeffler, he said, have portrayed Ossoff and Warnock as “radicals.”

Meanwhile, Ossoff and Warnock have pointed to Republican senators ‘belated support for citizens’ scrutiny of the most recent economic stimulus bill to be raised to $ 2,000, and have denounced possible ethical conflicts from Republican senators.

Georgia’s two senate seats have yet to be determined from the long election night on Nov. 3. Republicans are guaranteed 50 seats out of 100, so winning one retains the Senate majority.

With victories for Warnock and Ossoff, the Democrats – counting on the casting vote of vice-president-elect, Kamala Harris – would control the senate. While 60 votes are normally required in the Senate to take action, the party that controls the majority sets the agenda.

The Puerto Rican effect

After a very close and controversial election in Georgia, the one that won President-elect Biden by 12,000 votes, candidates are scrambling for votes. And the Puerto Rican mood is no exception.

Although they represent a small fraction of the state’s Spanish vote, about 90,000 Puerto Ricans live in Georgia and half have the right to vote, although there are no exact figures on how many they registered and voted in the November 3 election.

There are over 920,000 Hispanics in Georgia, mostly of Mexican and Central American descent. One third of the state’s population is African American.

In terms of the electorate, according to Pew Hispanic Research, 53% are non-Hispanic White, 30% African American, 4% Hispanic, and 3% Asian. The race or ethnicity of 9% of the voters is unknown.

“It’s a small margin of choice. We aim to get the Latino community to vote “, said Puerto Rican Frederick Vélez, the Spanish Federation’s national director of Civic Participation, who drew attention to a toy distribution at Marrietta’s Theater in the Square Saturday night and a party with the Kings taking place this afternoon in Atlanta, which they are hosting in conjunction with Boricua Vota.

Puerto Rican Pablo Cáceres, campaign leader of United for Progress, also said that they, together with the union Unite Here and the organizations Alianza for Progress and ‘Mi Jente’, have knocked on 250,000 doors for this second round, with the aim of bringing the Hispanic electorate to vote.

“We’ve traveled through several counties,” including Cobb, Marietta and LaFayette, Cáceres said.

Independent groups supporting Democratic candidates have brought artists such as Eva Longoria, América Ferrero and Kate del Castillo to Georgia. Actor Osvaldo Ríos took part in other events this weekend.

Cáceres thinks that of the well-known Puerto Rican politicians, only Gutiérrez has campaigned for the Democrats.

Melissa Rivera, a Puerto Rican who has lived in Cobb County for three years, said her “community is growing” and when another Puerto Rican is knocked on the door, they feel “more confident.”

In his message to voters, Rivera pointed out that they stress the importance for Democrats, who already hold a majority in the lower house, of controlling the Senate to guide President-elect Biden’s agenda.

The president-elect has pledged to promote parity for Puerto Rico in accessing programs such as Medicaid, Medicare, food aid, and supplementary security income (SSI), initiatives that would have a greater chance of success under a Democratic majority in the Senate.

The same could happen with any legislation to soften the Promise Act.

In terms of status, Senate Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has ruled out any proposal in favor of a state for Puerto Rico, while Democratic leader Charles Schumer believes the November 3 referendum , in which the state won 52.5% of the vote, confirmed the divisions that exist on the island on this issue.

But Biden is nonetheless committed to a status process that is binding on the federal government and involves representatives of all status alternatives.

Both President Donald Trump and President-elect Joe Biden will be campaigning for their candidates tomorrow on the eve of the final vote in Georgia. Vice President Michael Pence, for his part, will be in Georgia today.