A slim Democratic majority won’t be enough to pass a liberal agenda. But it could ensure a functioning government.
Get Jonathan Bernstein’s newsletter every morning in your inbox. Click here to subscribe. At long last, the 2020 election cycle concludes on Tuesday with two big U.S. Senate runoff elections in Georgia. We have no idea what will happen, other than that turnout appears to be unusually high for this type of contest and that it’s more likely than not that the same party will win both seats. Both sets of candidates have spent huge amounts of money; leaders of both parties have traveled to the state. Voters appear to be eager to participate and, as with most contests these days, have in many cases already cast their ballot well before Election Day. Polls close at 7:00 p.m. Eastern time. As we saw in November, there can be big shifts as different buckets of votes — absentee, early in-person and Election Day in-person — get counted, along with the traditional shifts when different counties report. In November, Republicans did better in ballots counted on Election Night and Democrats gained ground after that, but the same patterns won’t necessarily hold this time. If these turn out to be close races, we’ll probably have to be patient. As all the experts said in November, accurate counts are more important than quick ones. Here’s the twist: If you haven’t been paying attention, you should know that these elections are extremely important. If you’ve been paying close attention, these contests may actually be less important than you think. For those who haven’t tuned in, the elections are important because the Senate majority is at stake.
