With less than two weeks until Joe Biden is sworn into office as the 46th President, this week marks the Georgia Senate runoffs. Biden has gone all-out in campaigning for the state’s Democratic candidates in the upcoming elections.
The president-elect has actively pushed to campaign for Democratic candidates Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, who are challenging Republican incumbents David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler for their Senate seats. The Senate runoffs in Georgia are especially important for Biden as it will determine which party will take control of the Senate during the first two years of his administration. Should both Ossoff and Warnock win, with Kamala Harris being a Democrat, the Democrats will take control of the Senate even as the chamber would be evenly split. Early voting has appeared to make Republicans in the typically red-state wary, including Donald Trump, who has been focused on the results from the state.
Biden and his team have been able to bring in $18 million to the campaigns of both candidates. Campaign manager and incoming White House deputy chief of staff Jen O’Malley Dillon also confirmed the numbers being brought into the campaign for the candidates. The confirmation comes prior to Biden and Harris’ visits to the state to further campaign for Ossoff and Warnock. Biden and Harris have also recorded robocalls to get out the vote for the candidates and planned interviews with the press.
“We’re not having conversations about whether there’s a value-add to have the president-elect be a part of this. There is,” said O’Malley Dillon. “The party feels that way and sees the unique coalition that he’s put together.”
With the ongoing pandemic, Biden’s inauguration on January 20 would be smaller in scale. Rather than continuing to hold the traditional inaugural celebrations that take place in Washington, Biden and incoming first lady Dr. Jill Biden would instead be receiving an escort into the White House. The Presidential Inaugural Committee revealed that the Bidens would be escorted from 15th Street to the White House following his swearing-in at the West Front of the Capitol. The escort will have representatives from all branches of the military.