By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Senior National
Correspondent
Just days before the Dec. 6 Georgia Senate runoff, the state’s most populous city and capital seemed surprisingly like an old Christmas fable: not much appeared stirring.
It was almost as if there wasn’t a major election coming, remarked Washington Informer Publisher Denise Rolark Barnes in an internal Slack message from Atlanta.
“There are literally no campaign signs anywhere,” Rolark Barnes stated.
Throughout her two-day visit to the Peach State, Barnes noticed only a few pro-Herschel Walker signs and “a sprinkling” of promotional materials for Democratic Incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock. This, due to Atlanta’s restrictions on campaign signs.
(Photo via NNPA)
Nevertheless, an abundance of television commercials continued running right up to the election.
A day after the runoff, the Democrats have strengthened their hold on the upper chamber of Congress, a move that will prevent Republicans from blocking federal and even Supreme Court nominations for the next two years.
During the midterm election, Democrats flipped one seat when Lt. Gov. John Fetterman defeated Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania. The win had assured Democrats of at least a majority given Vice President Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote.
Now, the 51-49 edge will allow Democrats some breathing room, considering conservative West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, who blocked some of President Joe Biden’s agenda during the administration’s first two years.
With 51 votes, Democrats can now afford to lose a member and still pass legislation (although, with Republicans seizing control of the House, it’s unlikely any meaningful legislation will pass during the next two years).
“Democrats needed to gain every seat possible from the 2022 election cycle. Holding the Senate this year is a massive achievement, but keeping it again in two years’ time will be a gargantuan task,” Political Analyst Chris Cillizza wrote.
“Democrats would much rather start the 2024 cycle with a bit of cushion provided by a Warnock win.”
An evenly divided Senate “slows everything down,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer remarked. “So, it makes a big difference to us.”
Further, in a 50-50 Senate, committees are evenly split between the two parties, which causes additional steps when a vote is tied. That forces the party in the majority to hold votes on the Senate floor to move bills or nominees forward.
With the Warnock win, Democrats now stand in position to hold an extra seat on every committee, making it much easier to move nominees or legislation on party-line votes.
“It’s always better with 51 because we’re in a situation where you don’t have to have an even makeup of the committees,” Biden said after Fetterman’s victory. “And so that’s why it’s important, mostly. But it’s just simply better. The bigger the numbers, the better.”
With a 51-seat majority, Vice President Harris doesn’t have to remain close to Washington when the Senate votes.
Harris already has broken 26 ties in two years in office, doubling what former Vice President Mike Pence did during his four-year term.
Earlier this year, Harris reminded everyone that the nation’s first vice president, John Adams, had cast 29 tie-breaking votes during his two terms from 1789 to 1797.
“So, as vice president, I’m also the president of the United States Senate. And in that role, I broke John Adams’s record of casting the most tie-breaking votes in a single term,” Harris said in September.
“This kid who was born in Oakland, California, and graduated from an HBCU just broke the record of John Adams. We should all fully appreciate how history can take a turn.”
