New York, Jan 4 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – The United States is poised on Tuesday to elect two senators in Georgia determining whether the Democrats have overall control of the country’s bicameral Congress – and the future of President-elect Joe Biden’s pro-LGBT+ rights agenda.
If Democrats win both, the chamber will be split 50-50 with the Republican party, giving the tie-breaking vote to Democrat Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
But if Republicans win one or both seats, they will retain a slim majority in the chamber and can block Biden’s legislative goals, including several favouring the LGBT+ community.
The runoff election was necessary because no candidate won more than 50% of the vote on Nov. 3. The Democrats already hold a majority in the lower House of Representatives.
The runoffs pit Democratic challengers Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff against Republicans Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue.
Sarah Kate Ellis, president of U.S.-based LGBT+ advocacy…