ATLANTA – The campaign schedule for the dueling U.S. Senate candidates is about to get more hectic with the start of the three-week early voting period on Monday.
Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock launched separate bus tours over the weekend, while U.S. Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue readied for a round of new events to capitalize on the early-voting period ahead of the Jan. 5 runoffs for control of the U.S. Senate.
With the election coinciding with holiday season, both parties have put an extra emphasis on voting early. Warnock's campaign punctuated that effort by releasing a 30-second ad Monday that urges Georgians to add "vote" to their busy to-do lists.
"That's right, early voting starts December 14th, so make voting a part of your holiday plans," Warnock says as he wrestles with unwieldy Christmas lights. "It'll probably take you less time than it'll take me to do this."
Democrats built an edge in early-voting this year, dominating the GOP with mail-in votes. Republicans are trying to erase that advantage ahead of the runoffs, aggressively urging supporters to cast absentee ballots, though that will be no easy sell for many. Trump and other top GOP officials have denigrated the mail-in system for years, eroding the trust of the GOP base.
Both Democrats plan to campaign together on Monday in Atlanta and on Tuesday with President-elect Joe Biden, who is set to stump for the two candidates. The Republicans, meanwhile, have a busy campaign schedule that includes stops in metro Atlanta, rural Georgia and a Travis Tritt concert on Friday.
