Georgia's U.S. Senate runoff elections this coming Tuesday may determine if Democrats regain majority control of the chamber. But the much-hyped effect the two sitting GOP senators will have on the Electoral College vote count the following day appears far less impactful.
Georgia Republican Senator David Perdue, who is facing off against Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff, cannot vote in what is traditionally an innocuous joint session of Congress to count state electoral votes this Wednesday—an event being widely touted by President Donald Trump and his most staunch supporters as a "last stand" against President-elect Joe Biden taking the White House on January 20.
That is because—regardless of whether Perdue wins or loses the day before the Senate session—his term officially expires at the end of the current Congress this Sunday, and certification of the election result could take up to two weeks.
Perdue and fellow Georgia GOP Senator Kelly Loeffler have remained quiet on whether they would oppose Biden's win in an on-the-record vote like what will happen the day after their runoff elections.
Given the legal limbo period, one of Georgia's U.S. Senate seats will officially be temporarily unoccupied until the election results are certified, meaning just 99 senators are eligible to vote on Wednesday—a day in which President Donald Trump has called for "wild" mass protests to overturn the presidential election results.
Democrats and even some GOP lawmakers have accused Texas Senator Ted Cruz and at least 10 other of his Republican colleagues of using their most recent last-ditch effort to oppose Biden's victory for political posturing, with Cruz eyeing a 2024 run for president.
Prior to the announcement of the Cruz-led GOP group Saturday, Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley himself said he would challenge the Electoral College results.
Loeffler, who can vote in the Wednesday session, has insisted the president has the "right to every legal recourse." She has not given any direct answers about how she would vote should she defeat Democratic candidate Raphael Warnock Tuesday. But Loeffler has hinted that she is prepared to fight to defend Trump's unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud.
"Everything's on the table right now," Loeffler said at a Ocmulgee River Gun Club campaign stop at the in Macon, Georgia, last week. "That vote is Jan. 6, and I'm going to continue to fight for this president because he fought for us."
Trump has for weeks called on his supporters to hold "wild" mass protests in Washington Wednesday, a move that likely reflects the outcome of his far-fetched plan to overturn the presidential election just two weeks before Biden's inauguration. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has reportedly urged GOP colleagues from objecting the Electoral College vote count on Wednesday.
Republican South Dakota Senator John Thune said such efforts to overturn the election will "go down like a shot dog," which prompted a furious Trump via Twitter to demand someone primary challenge him.
"Political career over!!!" he tweeted.
Newsweek reached out to both Loeffler and Perdue's campaign offices for comment.
