Thread by @19thnews

🧵 The Georgia Senate runoff races are Tuesday, and control of the upper chamber is on the line.

President Trump’s baseless election fraud allegations are dividing Georgia Republicans, and it could cost Sen. Kelly Loeffler her race. bit.ly/3aEKkyg

President-elect Joe Biden and President Donald Trump will each make one final in-person pitch today in Georgia. Vice President Mike Pence is also campaigning today and VP-elect Kamala Harris was in the state on Sunday.

Via @NBCNews: nbcnews.com/politics/2020-…

President Trump’s appearance in Georgia comes a day after audio surfaced of a Jan. 2 phone call in which Trump urged fellow Republican Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia secretary of state, to “find” enough votes to overturn his defeat.

Via @washingtonpost: washingtonpost.com/politics/trump…

Many have attributed Trump’s defeat in Georgia to Stacey Abrams and other on-the-ground organizers who have been working to mobilize voters in the state for years.

Joe Biden was the first Democratic presidential nominee to win the state since 1992. bit.ly/3hGOsPG

As @StaceyAbrams told The 19th’s @emarvelous in August, voter suppression is the “prevention or discouragement of people from exercising the franchise in total,” and 2020 was “the pinnacle.”

Organizers are still on the ground in Georgia, and their work may be paying off: thousands who didn’t vote in November are turning out for the runoff election. ⬇️

https://twitter.com/GeoffRBennett/status/1346077918045347841

Ahead of early voting for the runoff races, 80 percent of Black women said they “care a good deal about who wins” and that their vote has “a lot of power” to affect what happens in their community. bit.ly/3m6Xje4

What’s exactly at stake for Georgia and the nation at-large? First, health care.

Any sweeping policy reforms related to the Affordable Care Act or reproductive health will be an uphill battle made more difficult if the Republicans control the Senate. bit.ly/3pNInUy

Second, a follow-up to December’s coronavirus relief bill.

While this bill tackled paid leave, child care and food insecurity, experts say it’s not enough to undo much of the damage the pandemic dealt to women. bit.ly/38Ic2aL

Women — already the most vulnerable to job loss, the most likely to be sole heads of households, the ones who are most often the sole providers for their children — are also the most likely to be evicted from their homes during the pandemic. bit.ly/3rljdhz

Black women are twice as likely as White men and women to say they are behind on rent during the pandemic. bit.ly/3rljdhz

Third, Biden’s proposed $775 billion caregiving plan, which introduces universal pre-K, boosts pay for care workers and adds an estimated 3 million care jobs.

Passage of the plan could be contingent on which party controls the Senate. bit.ly/34voF7P

We may not know the results of the Georgia Senate races immediately, but there are already signs that Trump’s grousing about the election results, and the alleged complicity of Georgia Republicans, could depress party turnout. bit.ly/3aEKkyg

Georgia election official @GabrielSterling said Monday that the president’s disinformation campaign about the November election is impacting turnout models.

https://twitter.com/emarvelous/status/1346189161628377090

Via @ABCPolitics: “At the end of the day, we want to make sure people understand their votes count. Every person, every voice matters.”

https://twitter.com/ABCPolitics/status/1346189711023480833

For Sen. Kelly Loeffler, her focus “is on tomorrow Tuesday, January 5th, making sure that Georgians turn out to vote.”

https://twitter.com/carolinerkenny/status/1346184118955081732