Good morning! Today is Jan. 5 and Georgia is in the midst of a tumultuous runoff election that will determine the balance of power in the U.S. Senate. It will also put an end to all those mailers and text messages you’ve been bombarded with. Here is what you need to know today.
Headlines:
- Donald Trump and Joe Biden were both in Georgia yesterday to campaign with Georgia’s candidates for senate.
- Election officials in Georgia — all republicans — were actively debunking Trump’s claims of voter fraud yesterday in an effort to try to convince republicans to vote in today’s election.
- Republicans in Georgia and throughout the country are split about a phone call where Trump asked Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” the votes he needed to win the state and to tell voters he had “recalculated” the votes.
- The New Year’s holiday turned deadly on Georgia’s roads. The Georgia State Patrol reported 13 deaths over the New Year’s holiday.
- Atlanta has seen an increase in violent crime. Here is what Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms is doing about it.
- You don’t often hear of firefighters getting arrested, but a firefighter in Hartwell was arrested and charged with theft yesterday.
- A deputy in Henry County died from COVID-19.
Today:
Voters will cast their ballots today in two U.S. Senate races. One is between Republican Kelly Loeffler and Democrat Raphael Warnock and the other is between Republican David Perdue and Democrat John Ossoff. If you’re still not sure who you’re voting for, or woke up this morning and realized there was an election, here are some recent stories relating to the senate race.
- Could sports betting become legal in Georgia this year?
- Mail-in voting will be a major issue this year for Georgia lawmakers
- Find out what Brian Kemp said during his State of the State address
- Here’s what Georgia lawmakers had to say about the Capitol raid
- Here are the top issues for Georgia lawmakers as they start work today
- Ralston does not plan to end no-excuse absentee voting
- Vernon Jones says he’s joining the Republican party
- Warnock defeats Loeffler in Georgia Senate race
- The Georgia Senate runoff is razor thin as counting continues
- Election Results: 19,000 remaining ballots in DeKalb must be manually scanned
- Georgia elections chief says voting is running smoothly today
- Georgia gets visit from Trump and Biden on eve of historic election
- Georgia election officials debunk Trump’s claims
- In shocking phone call,Trump begs Raffensperger to ‘find 11,780 votes’
- Georgia elections chief debunks voting system ‘hack’ claim
Weather:
Temperatures will get up to about 52 degrees today with minimal chance for rain. You’ll want to vote during the day though. Evening temperatures will dip to 39 degrees and may hit freezing in the overnight hours.
Coronavirus: More than 6,000 Georgians are testing positive for coronavirus per day. The 7-day-average is the highest it has been in the state.
