Senate control boils down to today second election in Georgia for the two state senate seats. Republicans only need to win one seat to maintain control of the Senate, but if Democrats win both seats, there will be a 50-50 tie in the Senate and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will be the casting vote.
CBSN’s Elaine Quijano will be anchoring a special episode of “Red & Blue” starting at 5:00 PM. CBSN will also begin broadcasting live from 7pm when the polls close, with CBSN political reporter Caitlin Huey-Burns reporting from Georgia.
CBS News Election and Polling Director Anthony Salvanto will also appear throughout the evening, as will CBS News head Washington correspondent Major Garrett, CBS News chief convention correspondent Nancy Cordes, CBS News political correspondents Ed O’Keefe and Nikole Killion, and CBS News political reporters LaCrai. Mitchell and Adam Brewster.
CBSN will also speak to local journalists in Georgia as part of the “Local Affairs” series.
How to view the results of the Georgia Senate layoff
-
What: Senate elections of Georgia
-
Date: Tuesday, January 5
-
Closing polls: 7 p.m. ET
-
“Red & Blue” preview coverage on CBSN: 5 – 7 pm
-
CBSN live coverage: 19:00
-
Online stream: Live on CBSN in the player above and on your mobile or streaming device.
-
To follow: Live election updates on CBSNews.com.
Nearly 3 million votes were cast early in the second round, with 2 million of those early personal votes and nearly 1 million absent. The early vote ended on Thursday.
Senator David Perdue, who is facing Democrat Jon Ossoff, announced Thursday he will be quarantined because in his campaign he came into contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19. While it’s unclear how long he will be in quarantine, the Republican will miss some of the most important last days of campaign.
Perdue told Fox News on Friday that it was “terrible timing” to go into quarantine, but the campaign “won’t miss a step”.
Republicans are fighting hard to keep both seats. In November, Perdue Ossoff led with less than 100,000 votes, but Perdue failed to get 50% of the vote to avoid the second round.
The other race pits incumbent Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler against Democrat Raphael Warnock, the senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.
CBS News
Their race ran to lap two after Loeffler and Congressman Doug Collins, a favorite of President Trump, split the Republican vote in November. Warnock won the most votes of the three, but Loeffler and Collins won more votes together than he did.
Mr. Trump will hold a meeting in Dalton, Georgia, on Monday, January 4, on the eve of the election. Vice President Mike Pence will also be in Georgia Monday at the Georgia Faith Community Call to Action at a church in Milner, Georgia.
President-elect Joe Biden will be in Atlanta on Monday and Harris campaigned on Sunday.