A lot of buzz has arisen after the recent winning of President-elect Joe Biden around what the outcome of the senate race would be. Prior to the 2020 election, the Republicans controlled the Senate, but with the incoming Democratic president, many wondered what the senate election would come out to. Would Biden be able to act on the platform he ran on with a supporting Senate or would it be an uphill battle for his presidency? Georgia was on many minds when the Senate race turned into a runoff, leaving the senate seats stagnant at 48 Democrats and 50 Republicans. Two seats could have the power to decide the stability of the presidency for the next four years. After a long election season due to Georgia’s runoff, both Democrat candidates won their seats creating a Democratic control of the Senate. This Democratic control makes the 2020 senate vote one of the most historical elections ever.
But what does having control of the Senate mean and why is it important for a president? For example, Trump was a Republican president with a Republican-controlled Senate, so he was able to act on ideas and aspects of his campaign he ran on because he had the majority support on anything brought to the senate. Since 2020 was one of the most polarizing times in America and with the President-elect being a Democrat many were watching the Georgia senator run-off election with great anticipation.
Georgia hasn’t had a Democratic nominee win since 1992. The Democratic success of the Georgia Senate runoff election was said to have been possible due to Stacey Abrams. Abrams organized campaigns and was able to win more votes than any Democratic candidate in Georgia’s history. A key point of hers was correcting voter suppression, illegal voter purges and unjust poll closures. These were pivotal moves for the Democratic party to obtain the seats that they did.
Another way this win happened was the result of focusing on getting more people out to vote. Emphasizing the importance of the ever-changing suburbs was crucial for the Democrats. There has been a “growing diversity and shift among white voters in the big suburbs … these factors drive the polling between Trump and Biden into a near-tie.” With the close call in the Presidential election, Biden and his party knew they had to work just as hard to pull through, and that is exactly what they did.
The crazy thing about a Democracy is that in the next election this could all change. A lot of those decisions rely on the next four years with Biden. Will he and his Democrat-controlled Senate and House produce the result people voted them in for, or will they come up short? One thing for sure, Democrats winning the Senate run-off wasn’t easy. A lot of work went into it and a whole new blueprint for the state has been created. A state that wasn’t seen as critical can now be one that determines future elections for years to come.
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