Capitol Beat
By: Beau Evans
Two Democratic candidates running for U.S. Senate seats from Georgia gained the backing of presidential nominee Joe Biden on Monday, a day before the former vice president is set to visit the state ahead of the Nov. 3 election.
The endorsements for Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff come as both face increased attacks from Republican opponents in their respective Senate races amid a blitz of television and social-media ads down the home stretch before Election Day.
Warnock, who is the senior pastor of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, is running with about 20 other candidates to unseat U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler, a Republican and Atlanta businesswoman appointed to fill retired U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson’s seat in January.
He has the double challenge of fending off fierce attacks from another Republican, U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, R-Gainesville, who is angling to top Loeffler in votes on Nov. 3 and make an expected runoff in January against Warnock.
Ossoff, who owns an investigative journalism company, is taking on U.S. Sen. David Perdue in a heated race that has shown the two campaigns neck-and-neck in the polls. Tens of millions of dollars have been poured into both Ossoff and Warnock’s campaigns as well as their opponents.
Biden’s endorsement particularly of Warnock highlighted tension in the race between Loeffler and Collins, neither of which have received the endorsement of their party’s top leader, President Donald Trump. The president has signaled he likely won’t endorse either Republican until one advances to the runoff.
In statements sent Monday, Biden praised Warnock and Ossoff for their campaigns’ focus on health care, voting rights and workers’ rights.
“We need [Warnock] in the Senate to keep up that fight and help push our country forward to restore the soul of this nation,” Biden said of Warnock.
“I know Jon will put [his] passion to work for all Georgians, fighting for Georgia’s working families, not the powerful,” Biden said of Ossoff.
More than 2.8 million Georgians have cast ballots so far in the upcoming general and special elections. Early voting lasts through Friday.
