'Fate of the nation': Georgia voters to decide control of Senate under shadow of President Trump's grievances

Georgia voters head to the polls Tuesday for a pair of runoff elections that will determine control of the U.S. Senate, marking the end of the tumultuous 2020 election cycle that saw Republicans make gains in Congress while losing the White House.

The elections are being held as President Donald Trump continues to allege without evidence that widespread voter fraud in Georgia caused his loss to Joe Biden on Nov. 3. Republicans are worried those claims – punctuated by Trump's extraordinary phone call Saturday when he tried to pressure GOP state officials to overturn November's election – could discourage GOP voters from turning out Tuesday.

"I just want to find 11,780 votes," Trump said on an audio recording first obtained by The Washington Post. The number refers to the margin Trump needed to beat Biden.

Peach State voters will decide whether Republicans David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler return to Washington or if Democratic challengers Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock take their place. All four ran Nov. 3, but none got enough votes under state law to win the Senate seats outright, forcing Tuesday's runoffs.

Wins by both Ossoff and Warnock would result in a 50-50 split in the Senate, effectively giving Democrats control of the chamber since Vice President-elect Kamala Harris would cast tiebreaking votes.

A win by one of the Republicans would keep the Senate in the hands of Republicans and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell,R-Ky. Though it would be a narrow Republican majority, Biden and Democrats would face an uphill battle on any legislation they hoped to pass.