One pandemic, two different worlds in Georgia runoff races

ATLANTA (AP) — It’s two starkly different worlds on display in Georgia, where the national political spotlight is on twin Senate runoffs that will determine which party controls the chamber to open President-elect Joe Biden’s administration.

Republicans need one more seat for a majority; Democrats need a sweep on Jan. 5.

For Republicans, the pandemic is secondary in a runoff blitz defined by dire warnings about what it would mean if Raphael Warnock defeats Sen. Kelly Loeffler and Sen. David Perdue falls to Democrat Jon Ossoff.

Democrats, meanwhile, are more than eager to talk about COVID-19 and its economic fallout. The messaging differences bleed over to the two sides’ public health protocols.

All four candidates were on the Nov. 3 ballot, but none received a sufficient majority to claim a win.

Faith-based organizing is revving up as Georgia becomes the political hotspot.

Conservative Christians are rallying behind Loeffler and Perdue, while black churches and liberal-leaning Jewish groups are backing Warnock and Ossoff.

Georgia turned blue in the presidential election for the first time since 1992 by a razor-thin margin. With so much at stake, religious organizations and others are working fiercely on both sides to keep voters energized and turnout from falling off.

Copyright 2020 The Associated Press.