Georgia Sweep
Depending on when you are hearing this, one race for U.S. Senate may be called for the Democrat, and the other so close it’s within the margin for automatic recount…or something completely opposite. The deadline for submitting overseas and military ballots is not until tomorrow. So truly, who knows.
Interesting to see, however, what happened to Sen. David Perdue. He won the most votes on election day, but was just short of the 50 percent needed to win. Had there been a decent recount involving signature matching, he’d have had his majority and there would not have been a runoff in that race.
But instead, Perdue became a victim of circumstances, lumped into an all-or-nothing campaign with Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who even supporters concede was a poor candidate. It was the first time she’d campaigned, having been appointed to the position previously.
Add to that the fact that Perdue had distanced himself from President Trump over time…but he was swept into the presidential campaign dispute there, as well. Chances are that had he been in a runoff alone, he’d have won. But the baggage that came with his fellow Senator, combined with the frenzy over the presidential count, will likely be too much to overcome…and with it, there goes control of the Senate.
Add to that the fact that Perdue had distanced himself from President Trump over time…but he was swept into the presidential campaign dispute there, as well. Chances are that had he been in a runoff alone, he’d have won. But the baggage that came with his fellow Senator, combined with the frenzy over the presidential count, will likely be too much to overcome…and with it, there goes control of the Senate.
That makes two appointed GOP senators who lost election…the other was Martha McSalley in Arizona, who was appointed just weeks after she lost a race for the state’s other seat.
So while we really want people in the Senate who can govern…one of the lessons of this past fall is that the person also needs to campaign well and win elections…and that may be something governors who make such appointments might consider going forward.
