The GOP Has a Lock on Senate Control? Think Again

How many Republicans out there woke up Wednesday morning feeling like they got kicked in the gut after reading that the lead Donald Trump held in swing states such as Michigan and Wisconsin the night before had dissipated by sunrise.

The thought of Democratic control of the White House is indeed troubling for these conservatives. But the feeling of nausea consuming Trump supporters that morning was tempered significantly by the joyous news that the Democrats had failed in their unprecedented monetary effort to take control of the Senate.

Joe Biden might control the White House and the awesome power that comes with it, but at least the Democrats were apparently stymied in their efforts to re-envision America via total control of all three branches.

I hate to throw water on that euphoria.

It’s far from certain that the Republicans have maintained control of the Senate.

Ultimately, it may all come down to two seats presently held by Republican incumbents in Georgia.

At least one of those seats is slated for a runoff, while the other held by incumbent David Perdue is just a handful of votes away from a forced runoff as well.

Observers noticed that Perdue’s margin seemed comfortable enough that it would not be overtaken by his Democratic challenger, Jon Ossoff.

But Georgia requires that the winner of a race gets 50% of the vote plus one.

If that threshold is not achieved, the two highest vote-getters have a follow up runoff.

That would not be held until January.

The junior senator from Georgia, Kelly Loeffler, was appointed by the state’s governor to fill the vacancy created upon the retirement of former Sen. Johnny Isakson.

Her race on Tuesday was a free-for-all with several candidates, including fellow Republican, Congressman Doug Collins, who siphoned over 20% of the vote from his GOP colleague.

This allowed Democratic challenger, Democrat Rev. Raphael Warnock, to lead all candidates with 32%, but far below the 50% plus one needed for victory.

It was always expected that this race would lead to a runoff, but it was not known whether Perdue’s race would as well.

For most of Tuesday evening, it seemed like Perdue was cruising to a victory well above the 50% threshold. But as votes trickled in from urban areas, both President Trump’s and Perdue’s margins were lessening significantly.

As of Wednesday night, Perdue still had 50.2% of the vote.

The tiny vote margin potentially holds the key to the future of the Senate, and that of the nation itself. If Perdue can stay at 50.1%, there is no runoff. And that means the Senate will stay in the hands of the Republicans, even if Loeffler were to lose her runoff in January.

But what if both Loeffler and Perdue require runoffs?

If Democrats were able to win both those seats, they would take control of the Senate, assuming Biden prevails in the presidential tally.

And then, all of the worst fears that Republicans had of the “blue wave” will come to fruition, notwithstanding the fact that such a wave never materialized.

A 50-50 deadlock in the Senate allows a possible Vice-President Kamala Harris to break any ties, thereby giving full control to the Democrats.

That would not only enable them to revoke the filibuster, but then give them the opportunity to add Puerto Rico and Washington D.C. as states, thereby bringing on four more Democratic senators.

It would open the door to their goal of packing the court, passing the Green New Deal and implementing Biden’s horrific tax plan that would double the capital gains tax and significantly increase corporate taxes, thereby leading to the flight of corporate money out of the country once again.

There was a time when one would think, “Don’t worry, this is Georgia. They won’t put a Democrat in the Senate.”

But it’s now clear that the impressive vote totals garnered by gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, was not a fluke. With the state splitting almost 50-50 in the presidential race, it is now clear that this is a very purple state.

If Republicans think they are a lock on those Senate runoffs, they may face a rude awakening.

If you thought the $100 million Democrats spent trying to oust Sens. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., or Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. was a ton of dough, that will be considered chump change by the time this runoff is complete.

A split by the Republicans maintains their control of the Senate.

A sweep by the Democrats not only gives them control of the Senate, but may lead to the most radical change of the nation‘s political structure in our history.

Now that’s something to worry about.

Steve Levy served as Suffolk County Executive, as a NYS Assemblyman, and host of “The Steve Levy Radio Show.” He is the author of just released “Solutions to America’s Problems.” Www.SteveLevy.info tweet to @SteveLevyNY. Read Steve Levy’s Reports — More Here.