President-Elect Joe Biden To Visit Atlanta Next Week

ATLANTA, GA — President-elect Joe Biden will travel to Atlanta on Dec. 15 to campaign for Democrats Jon Ossoff and the Rev. Raphael Warnock for the Georgia Senate runoff election, 11Alive reported Dec. 10. There were few details provided in the news release sent out by Biden's staff.

Ossoff and Warnock will face Republican Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler in the Senate runoff election on Jan. 5, 2021. Republicans need one victory in either race to maintain their Senate majority.

This announcement from Biden comes on the same day that Vice President Mike Pence travels to the state to campaign for Perdue and Loeffler.

The two races are the focus of nationwide attention, and drew President Donald Trump to hold a rally in Valdosta on Saturday, where he used most of two hours meant to promote Loeffler and Sen. David Perdue instead promoting the idea that the presidential election had been "rigged" in favor of Biden.

During a Sunday evening debate Loeffler repeatedly refused to say Trump had lost the Georgia election.

"It's very clear there were issues in this election," Loeffler said during the debate sponsored by the Atlanta Press Club. Adding that there were already "250 investigations" into the presidential election nationwide, Loeffler also repeated several times that "the president has every right to every legal recourse."

Loeffler repeatedly called Warnock a "radical liberal," painting him as a socialist who would defund the police and take people's guns while working with U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer.

Warnock responded by calling Loeffler "the wealthiest member of Congress," portraying her as more concerned with her own wealth than the welfare of Georgians.

Both hammered on their ability to understand common Georgians and access the "American dream," with Loeffler saying that she grew up on a farm and waited tables and Warnock emphasizing his early life in Savannah's project homes.

Ossoff, the other Democratic candidate for a U.S. Senate seat from Georgia, argued with an empty podium that was meant for Perdue. "This is a strange situation," Ossoff said. Perdue has repeatedly declined invitations to debate Ossoff ahead of the Jan. 5 runoff election.

This story will be updated as more details become available.