As voters in Georgia head to the polls Tuesday to decide which party will control the U.S. Senate for the next two years, Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., are poised to take on important roles if Democrats end up taking both seats in the southern state.
A pair of Senate races went to runoffs because no candidate received 50% of the vote in November. Incumbent Republican Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue were facing off against Democratic challengers the Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff.
The stakes are extremely high, with the control of the U.S. Senate in the balance as President-elect Joe Biden, a Democrat, readies to begin his tenure in the White House.
Republicans need to win just one of the contests in Georgia to control the Senate. With a 51-49 majority, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., would continue to lead the upper chamber.
However, if Democrats win both Senate seats, the parties would have a 50-50 member split in the upper chamber, with the tie-breaking vote going to Democratic Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
National attention has focused on Georgia, as polling shows two very tight races Tuesday. Both President Donald Trump and Biden have campaigned for their respective parties in the Georgia contest, trying to tip the scales in their favor.
While results are expected to begin coming in Tuesday evening, it might take much longer to declare a winner for each contest.
While a Democratic win in both races would bring myriad changes to Congress, both of Vermont’s U.S. senators are well-placed to receive important chair assignments if the controlling party is to switch.
Leahy is a lock to become the next chair of the powerful appropriations committee while Sanders is in line to head the budget committee, the panel that writes Congress’ spending priorities.
“Both Bernie and Patrick Leahy are in position to really claim plum slots,” said Matthew Dickinson, a professor of political science at Middlebury College.
During negotiations of the CARES Act last spring, Leahy demanded that states with small populations receive a minimum of $1.25 billion in the large coronavirus relief bill. The money has proved crucial to Vermont in its response to the pandemic and the ensuing economic crisis.
“If Sen. Leahy was to ascend to the chairmanship of the appropriations committee, it puts him in probably the single most influential position to help Vermont get through this pandemic,” said Luke Albee, a Washington, D.C., lobbyist and Leahy’s former chief of staff.
Albee added that Leahy and Biden have a long and close friendship, which would be an asset if Democrats took control of the Senate.
Eric Davis, professor emeritus of political science at Middlebury College, said the result in Georgia could also play into Leahy’s decision about whether to run for another six-year term in 2022.
“If he’s in the majority party and is a committee chair and he would be president pro tem of the Senate, as well as be the most senior member of the majority party, that makes it more likely he would run for another term,” Davis said of the 80-year-old Leahy.
Former Democratic Gov. Howard Dean agreed with Albee, and said that during his tenure as governor he called Leahy “the fourth-biggest industry in Vermont” because of his work to bring federal money into the state.
“It would be a big deal for Vermont,” Dean said of the potential for Leahy to head the appropriations committee.
Dean added that if Sanders became the chair of the budget committee, the Vermont independent could continue to build on his message of trying to change the country’s spending priorities.
Dean said one of Sanders’ greatest accomplishments in the Senate was his vote on the Affordable Care Act, ensuring billions of dollars in extra funding for federally qualified health centers, which provide primary care services in underserved areas.
“Bernie is in a position to make sure stuff like that happens, not just in Vermont but for the whole country,” Dean said.
Albee said Sanders would have the ability to write his own federal budgets and elevate the differences between his viewpoint and that of others in Democratic leadership and Biden.
“Bernie as chairman of the budget committee and Lindsey Graham as ranking member,” Albee said. “That’ll become the greatest show on earth.”
While control in the Senate remains in question, in the House of Representatives, Democrats have retained a strong majority.
Committee appointments will not be finalized for several weeks. Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., is expected to remain on the same committees as in the last session — the House Intelligence Committee, and the energy and commerce committee, which works on health care, the environment, telecommunications and consumer protection.
Welch is also on the subcommittee on health, energy, and communications and technology.
