ATLANTA — President-elect Joe Biden urged Georgia Democrats to “turn out the vote so it’s not even close” on Tuesday to boost Democratic Senate candidates Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock ahead of Jan. 5 runoffs that will decide control of the U.S. Senate.
“I know what we can do. I know what this country is capable of. I know the future we can build together,” he said. “Now it’s time to send Jon and Raphael to Washington to help me get it done.”
The trip coincides with the start of the three-week early voting period, which began Monday, the same day a suspense-less Electoral College vote in Georgia and other battleground states confirmed Biden’s victory over President Donald Trump.
And Biden opened by thanking Georgians for making him the first Democrat presidential nominee to win the state since 1992 — even if it required three separate tallies.
I’m starting to feel like I won Georgia three times,” Biden quipped, invoking legal challenges and demands from Trump to overturn his victory.
“Georgia wasn’t going to be bullied. Georgia wasn’t going to be silenced. Georgia wasn’t going to stand by and let Donald Trump or the state of Texas — or anyone else — come here and toss out your votes.”
He said the state's two Republican senators, who backed the ill-fated Texas lawsuit, “fully embraced nullifying nearly 5 million Georgia votes.”
”Maybe your senators were just confused. Maybe they think they represent Texas,” Biden said. “Well if they want to do the bidding of Texas, they should be running there instead of here in Georgia.”
Democrats hope Biden can help counter the image that Republican U.S. Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue have cast upon their two challengers: as “radical liberal socialists” bent on raising taxes and upending the criminal justice system.
