Name: Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler has tested positive for the coronavirus
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Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler has tested positive for the coronavirus

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Loeffler, running to keep her seat in a competitive special election, plans to quarantine.Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) has tested positive for the coronavirus amid her campaign to retain her Senate seat in a special election against .Loeffler reportedly ; according to her campaign, she received an additional inconclusive test result Saturday, and is asymptomatic. She is currently quarantining. If she follows guidelines, she will need to refrain from interacting with others — including holding in-person campaign events — for at least nine more days, a significant setback given is fast approaching, on January 5.The senator campaigned in person Friday ahead of her test, having reportedly received a negative test that morning; her events placed her in close contact with Vice President Mike Pence and fellow , a Republican who will also be on the ballot January 5, potentially exposing them to infection. Pence has had a number of exposures, including at a held in celebration of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, but appears to have avoided infection thus far.Loeffler and Perdue are both in tight races; Perdue is running against , a filmmaker who narrowly lost a hotly contested congressional race in 2017.The two contests have taken on national significance as their results will decide which party will control the Senate, and to what degree President-elect Joe Biden will be able to fill seats in his Cabinet, let alone pursue the kinds of legislation he promised during his campaign.Some Republicans, ), have said if Republicans control the Senate Biden “would be well advised to not nominate radical progressives and people that would have difficulty.” And a GOP-controlled Senate would also likely limit the size and scope of any future coronavirus stimulus and aid package, as the Republican Party has repeatedly said they believe Democrats’ plans for sweeping Covid-19 legislation are .Polls that is essentially tied. And as has explained, while normally Republicans would be seen as having an advantage in Georgia’s runoffs — which are typically lower-turnout contests than normal elections — this year, there are a number of factors that make both races unpredictable.For one, Nilsen notes, “the metro Atlanta area is booming, and a lot of people moving there are young and diverse. Increasingly, they’re voting Democratic.” This new influx of voters, coupled with the and to register new voters and increase turnout, powered a narrow Biden victory in the state.Second, both races have received national attention — Democrats and Republicans both see winning as critical, as both want control of the Senate. This has meant an influx of money and volunteers, as well as a unprecedented focus on both seats.Third, and have both been embroiled in financial scandals related to stock trades they made early in the pandemic, including sales that kept them from massive financial losses and acquisitions of companies that have increased their value due to the spread of the coronavirus.Both candidates received information not yet available to the public about the severity of the coronavirus and its potential consequences. Both made savvy trades after learning that information, something the senators claimed was done without their knowledge. The briefly investigated Loeffler, and several other senators, before dropping its investigation; and both Loeffler and Perdue were cleared by the Senate Ethics Committee (a body that, as , has a “very tolerant approach to conflicts of interest”).But it is the final variable that perhaps injects the most uncertainty into the race: President Donald Trump.Trump has been of little help to either Republican because he has been primarily focused on casting doubt on Georgia’s results in the presidential election. He lost the state by , but incorrectly insists that election officials counted wrong.Georgia has already counted its ballots twice — the second time was a hand recount, where all of its 5 million votes were examined and tabulated by trained election officials. Biden won both those counts.The state certified its election results on Friday, with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger saying he stands by the count.“Working as an engineer throughout my life, I live by the motto that numbers don’t lie,” . “The numbers reflect the verdict of the people, not a decision by the secretary of state’s office or of courts or of either campaign.”Gov. Brian Kemp also signed off on the results.But the another recount on Saturday, saying in a statement, “We are focused on ensuring that every aspect of Georgia State Law and the U.S. Constitution are followed so that every legal vote is counted.”And Trump has repeatedly issued tweets casting doubt on the results in Georgia — and other states — claiming, falsely, that and spreading about the machines and software used to tally votes during the first count.These efforts have taken time and attention away from the Senate races, and has on the runoff. Rather than focus on the issues, both candidates have been forced to trumpet their support of Trump in his quixotic bid to overturn the election’s results.During his stop in Georgia, , “As our election contests continue, here in Georgia and in courts across the country, I’ll make you [a] promise: We’re going to keep fighting until every legal vote is counted. We’re going to keep fighting until every illegal vote is thrown out.”And that Perdue’s efforts to frame the runoff as the only way to check Biden and keep the Senate in the GOP’s hands were interrupted by chants of “Stop the steal!” — a rally cry used by Trump supporters who believe the president’s false claims that the election is being stolen from him.Adding to the overall concern that Trump may be leading Republicans into sabotaging themselves in Georgia is the fact that the president has worked to cast doubt on the professionalism of election officials there, casting Raffensperger as corrupt and Kemp as incompetent.“Georgia Secretary of State, a so-called Republican (RINO), won’t let the people checking the ballots see the signatures for fraud,” Friday. “Everyone knows that we won the state. Where is @BrianKempGA?”His assertion that the people running the special election can’t be trusted would seem to give the president’s supporters little incentive to participate in the contests. Trump has not yet explained why Georgians should vote for Loeffler or Purdue. And if the race is as close as the presidential one, both senators will need every vote to keep their seats.Millions turn to Vox to understand what’s happening in the news. Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment: to empower through understanding. Financial contributions from our readers are a critical part of supporting our resource-intensive work and help us keep our journalism free for all.Understand how policy impacts people. Delivered Fridays.

Loeffler, running to keep her seat in a competitive special election, plans to quarantine.Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) has tested positive for the coronavirus amid her campaign to retain her Senate seat in a special election against .Loeffler reportedly ; according to her campaign, she received an additional inconclusive test result Saturday, and is asymptomatic. She is currently quarantining. If she follows guidelines, she will need to refrain from interacting with others — including holding in-person campaign events — for at least nine more days, a significant setback given is fast...

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Sean Collins

Vox is a liberal-leaning American news and opinion website owned by Vox Media. The website was founded in April 2014 by Ezra Klein, Matt Yglesias, and Melissa Bell, and is noted for its concept of explanatory journalism. Vox's media presence also includes a YouTube channel, several podcasts, and a show presented on Netflix.

Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler has tested positive for the coronavirus

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