President-elect Joseph R. Biden urged Georgia voters to support Democrats in two U.S. Senate runoff contests on Tuesday, saying he needs a Democratic Senate to get more money flowing quickly to Americans suffering from coronavirus-related economic pain.
“We need you to vote again in record numbers,” Mr. Biden said at a Monday rally in Atlanta. “To make your voices heard again — and again to change Georgia, to change America again.”
Mr. Biden made the trip to speak on behalf of Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, who are squaring off against Sen. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue on Tuesday.
Mr. Biden said if the Democrats win on Tuesday, the U.S. Senate will be able to pass a new coronavirus relief package that includes direct payments of $2,000 for millions of Americans.
“If you send Sens. Perdue and Loeffler back to Washington, those checks will never get there — it’s just that simple,” Mr. Biden said.
President Trump, Mr. Perdue and Ms. Loeffler say they support the bigger checks, but Congress adjourned last week without authorizing the new money. Congress had already included direct payments of $600 for millions of Americans in a COVID relief package lawmakers passed last month.
Mr. Biden said Mr. Trump is spending more time whining and complaining than tackling the COVID-19 crisis head-on.
“I don’t know why he still wants the job — he doesn’t want to do the work,” he said.Mr. Biden spoke at the event following appearances from Mr. Warnock and Mr. Ossoff.
“Don’t sleep through this moment. There is too much at stake,” Mr. Warnock said.
The two Georgia runoff elections on Tuesday will determine which party controls the U.S. Senate this year and will undoubtedly shape the early stages of Mr. Biden’s time in the White House.
“If Mitch McConnell and the Republicans hold onto the Senate, they will try to do to Joe and Kamala exactly like they tried to do to President Obama,” Mr. Ossoff said.
Mr. Perdue’s U.S. Senate term expired on Sunday, temporarily leaving Republicans with a 51-48 majority in the chamber.
Mr. Biden is the first Democratic presidential candidate since 1992 to carry Georgia.
He spoke two days after the president pressed Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to find enough ballots to swing the outcome in the state to Mr. Trump.
Mr. Trump is rallying in the northern part of the state on Monday evening to try to get out the vote for Ms. Loeffler and Mr. Perdue.
Vice President Mike Pence made an appearance in Milner, about an hour south of Atlanta, earlier Monday and Vice President-elect Sen. Kamala D. Harris rallied in Savannah on Sunday on behalf of the Democrats.
Earlier Monday, Gabriel Sterling with the secretary of state’s office urged people to get out and vote on Tuesday regardless of party.
He said he’s had to tell people he’s known for decades that the election was not stolen from Mr. Trump and that there was not massive voter fraud.
“But if you believe in your heart of hearts that there was, the best thing for you to do is to turn out and vote and make it harder for them to steal,” Mr. Sterling said.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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