President-elect Joe Biden and President Donald Trump will be holding dueling campaign rallies in Georgia on Monday, the eve of a pair of crucial Senate runoff elections in the southern state.
Biden, 78, announced on Wednesday that he would travel to the Georgia capital Atlanta to campaign for Democratic candidates Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock.
Trump, 74, had previously announced that he would be in the town of Dalton on Monday night for a rally in support of the Republican candidates, incumbent senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler.
Tuesday’s runoff election featuring Ossoff against Perdue and Warnock against Loeffler will determine which party has control of the Senate.
Both races are tight with polls showing the candidates neck and neck.
Republicans currently hold 50 seats in the Senate and a victory in just one of the Georgia races will give them a majority and the ability to hamstring Biden’s agenda after he takes office on January 20.
If Democrats win the two Senate seats they will also have 50 seats plus a vice president, Kamala Harris, who can cast tie-breaking votes.
Harris is to visit the Georgia city of Savannah on Sunday to campaign for Ossoff and Warnock.
Georgia has been reliably Republican but Biden narrowly defeated Trump there in the November 3 presidential election, becoming the first Democrat to win the state since Bill Clinton in 1992.
– AFP