Joe Biden begins transition as Trump plays golf and refuses to concede – US election live

Stacey Abrams, the former Democratic candidate for governor in Georgia who is credited with motivating voters against Donald Trump in a traditionally red state, believes Joe Biden’s presidency could be defined by two US Senate run-off elections in her state in January.

Victories for the Democratic candidates Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock would secure a 50-50 split with Republicans, making Kamala Harris, as Vice-President, the tie-breaking vote.

“This is going to be the determining factor of whether we have access to healthcare and access to justice in the United States,” Abrams, a former Georgia House minority leader, said Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union.

“Those are two issues that will make certain people turn out. We know this is going to be a hard fight, it’s going to be a competitive fight [and] these are two men who are going to make certain that Joe Biden has the leadership, the support and the congressional mandate that he needs to move this country forward.”

Both parties will be directing massive resources into Georgia ahead of the 5 January elections. Abrams believes it is an “anachronistic notion” that her party cannot win in a state that has two Republican senators, David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, a Republican governor in Brian Kemp, and a GOP-controlled legislature.

Biden holds a narrow lead in the presidential election in Georgia, a race not yet called and heading for a recount.

“We’re so proud of the work that the Biden campaign did in Georgia but we’re incredibly excited about the work that’s been done on the ground for the last decade to bring us to this point, and we’re so excited to be going blue,” she said.

The support of Georgia’s black voters has been key to Biden’s strength there, but Abrams said it would take a diverse coalition to seat two Democrats in the Senate.

“We began early on saying that this is not about black and white, this is about pulling together a coalition of people of color, of the poor, of the disadvantaged, of the marginalised, and being consistent with our engagement not waiting for an election to meet them, and certainly not waiting till the end of an election to acknowledge their value,” Abrams said.

“We’ve been doing this work from the very beginning, but I also want to acknowledge the very strong work of progressive whites, who’ve been working to help build these opportunities as well.

“We are not a majority minority country yet. And that means that this is a coalition that has to be built and sustained across racial lines, across demography, across geography, because our mission should be the protection of our democracy, and the action of progress for all.”