Senate control comes down to today second round elections in Georgia for the two seats in the state Senate. Republicans need to win just one seat to maintain control of the Senate, but if Democrats win both seats, there will be a 50-50 tie in the Senate and vice president-elect Kamala Harris will be the tiebreaker.
Elaine Quijano, from CBSN, will present a special episode of “Red & Blue” starting at 5pm. CBSN will also begin broadcasting live from 7 pm, when the polls close, with CBSN political reporter Caitlin Huey-Burns reporting from Georgia.
CBS News’ director of elections and polls, Anthony Salvanto, will also appear throughout the night, as will CBS News’ top Washington correspondent, Major Garrett, CBS News’ congressional chief correspondent, Nancy Cordes, the political correspondents of CBS News. CBS News Ed O’Keefe and Nikole Killion and political reporters for CBS News LaCrai Mitchell and Adam Brewster.
CBSN will also speak to local Georgia reporters as part of the “Local Matters” series.
How to watch the results of the second round of the Georgia Senate
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What: Georgia Senate run-off elections
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Meeting: Tuesday, January 5
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Survey closings: 7 pm ET
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Preview coverage of “Red & Blue” on CBSN: 5-7 pm
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Live coverage of CBSN: 7 PM
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Stream online: Live on CBSN in the player above and on your cell phone or streaming device.
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Follow: Live election updates on CBSNews.com.
Almost 3 million votes were cast at the start of the second round, with 2 million of those initial personal votes and almost 1 million absent. Early voting ended Thursday.
Senator David Perdue, who faces the Democrat Jon Ossoff, announced Thursday he will be quarantined because he contacted someone in his campaign who tested positive for COVID-19. While it is unclear how long he will be quarantined, the Republican will miss out on some of the key final campaign days.
Perdue told Fox News on Friday that it was a “terrible time” to quarantine, but the campaign “will not miss a step”.
Republicans are struggling hard to keep both seats. In November, Perdue led Ossoff by less than 100,000 votes, but Perdue was unable to get 50% of the vote to avoid the runoff.
The other dispute pits Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler against the Democrat Raphael Warnock, the senior pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.
CBS News
His run went to the second round after Loeffler and Congressman Doug Collins, a favorite of President Trump, split the Republican vote in November. Warnock won the majority of the votes for the three, but Loeffler and Collins together won more votes than he did.
Mr Trump will hold a rally in Dalton, Georgia, on Monday, January 4, the day before the election. Vice President Mike Pence will also be in Georgia on Monday at the Georgia Faith Community Call to Action at a church in Milner, Georgia.
President-elect Joe Biden will be in Atlanta on Monday, and Harris campaigned on Sunday.