Kamala Harris headed to Georgia to hold runoff rallies on Monday

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Less than a week after President-elect Joe Biden campaigned in Georgia on behalf of the two Democratic candidates in the state’s twin Jan. 5 Senate runoff elections, it was announced that Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will head to the Peach State, as well.

Biden transition officials said Friday that the vice president-elect will hold events in Suwanee and Columbus on Monday, for Democratic candidates Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock. The Republican Senate majority is at stake in the two Jan. 5 contests.

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"Georgia, can’t wait to be back next Monday to rally voters ahead of the Senate runoffs! Let’s flip the Senate," the senator from California wrote on Twitter minutes after the announcement.

Harris campaigned in Georgia twice in the run-up to last month’s general election, helping to mobilize Black voters. But Monday’s trip will be her first since the Democratic ticket won the election and Harris made history as the first woman and first Black American and Asian American elected vice president.

Winning both runoff contests is crucial for the incoming administration’s success in passing its agenda. It would lead to a 50-50 Senate and the Democrats with the majority, thanks to the tie-breaking vote of Harris as the new vice president. And it would mean the Democrats would control both houses of Congress as well as the White House.

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But if either or both of the Republican incumbents, Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, win, the GOP keeps its control of the chamber and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will keep his position, possibly erecting numerous roadblocks to slow down the new Biden administration.

"It’s time to stand up and take back our democracy. Send me these two men and we will control the Senate and we will change the lives of people in Georgia," Biden emphasized on Tuesday as he campaigned in Atlanta with Ossoff and Warnock, in his first trip back to the state since the presidential election. Biden edged President Trump by a razor-thin margin in Georgia, becoming the first Democrat to carry the state in the White House race in a quarter-century.

Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., speaks during a campaign event at Morehouse College, Friday, Oct. 23, 2020, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Amis)

The trip by Harris will come one week after the start of early in-person voting in the runoff elections. Early voting has been brisk, with more than 1.1 million people already voting in-person or casting an absentee ballot, according to the latest data from the state.

President Trump stumped in the state earlier this month, holding a large rally with Loeffler and Perdue in Valdosta. Vice President Mike Pence campaigned in Columbus and Macon on Friday, in his fourth campaign visit to Georgia since the kickoff of the runoff campaigns last month.

A bunch of other potential Republican 2024 presidential contenders have also flocked to Georgia over the past six weeks, to try and keep the Senate in GOP hands. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and former ambassador to the United Nations and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley descend on the state this weekend.

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And two of the president’s children, who may have political aspirations in the future, are also heading to Georgia. Donald Trump Jr. campaigns in the state this weekend and Ivanka Trump will be in Georgia on Monday.

With the stakes so high, the campaigns, the political parties, and outside groups have shelled out more than $450 million so far to run or reserve ad time in the runoff elections, according to the national ad tracking firm AdImpact.