Background Briefing: November 5, 2020
Arizona Will Have Biden at 264 With Either Georgia, Nevada or Pennsylvania Putting Him Over the 270
We will begin with the key state of Arizona which will put Joe Biden at 264 of the 270 electoral college votes needed to win and speak with Jim Small, Editor in Chief of the Arizona Mirror, a non-profit newsroom in Phoenix that covers state and local politics. He was the Executive Director and Editor of the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting as well as Editor of the Arizona Capitol Times and joins us to discuss the latest numbers which appear to show Trump has no path to victory in a state that both the AP and Fox News called early for Biden, infuriating Trump who dispatched Jared Kushner to lean on Rupert Murdoch to retract the call. We examine where the final outstanding votes are coming from and to what degree they trend for Biden as the last votes get counted and Biden gets close to the 270 Electoral College threshold with either Nevada, Georgia or Pennsylvania, all of which could all go Biden’s way, putting him over the top as the numbers dribble in.
Biden Could Win Georgia Which Will Have Two Run-offs for the Senate That the Democrats Might Control
Then we go to Georgia to speak with Alan Abramowitz, Professor of Political Science at Emory University and author of The Polarized Public: Why American Government is so Dysfunctional and The Great Alignment: Race, Party Transformation, and the Rise of Donald Trump. He joins us to discuss the close race in Georgia that Biden may end up winning and how the Republican Senator David Perdue has dropped below the 50% threshold in his race against Jon Ossoff meaning there will be two run-off races for the U.S. Senate in Georgia on January 5, 2021 which could tip control of the senate to the Democrats.
Only a Right to Vote Could Fix Our Broken Elections and Democracy
Then finally we speak with Jeremi Suri, Chair for Leadership in Global Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin and author of The Impossible Presidency: The Rise and Fall of America’s Highest Office. He joins us to discuss his article at CNN “American elections have become a drama frustratingly divorced from democracy” and the need for a Constitutional Amendment for citizens to have a right to vote in our dysfunctional democracy.