Lambda Legal CEO Kevin Jennings today issued the following statement about the election of Democrat Rev. Raphael Warnock and apparent election of Democrat Jon Ossoff to the U.S. Senate, defeating incumbent Georgia Republican senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue in Tuesday's run-off election:
“We hope that today’s outcome ushers in a new day when the legislative and executive branches can work together to make life easier, safer and more fair for people – whether it comes to access to healthcare, racial justice, or equality for LGBTQ people and everyone living with HIV. If the past ten years have demonstrated anything, it is the importance of the Senate to determining whether the government will work for the people to advance equality and opportunity, or whether it will stand in the way of that progress.
“There is important work to be done – to repair our judiciary, to improve our economy, to tame the COVID pandemic and to restore faith in our government as a force for good. We are eager to get to work with the Biden-Harris administration and the new Congress to improve the lives of LGBTQ people and everyone living with HIV.”
“The people of Georgia came out in record numbers to vote in a special election in a fitting tribute to the work of the late John Lewis in promoting the right of all Georgians to vote, and we salute them. And we celebrate with them the new future Senators Warnock and Ossoff, Georgia’s first Black and first Jewish Senators in a state where during the 20th century both Blacks and Jews were lynched, and we rejoice in these victories that signal a new era for the South and for our work with our partners across the region.”
Lambda Legal’s recently released report on the Trump administration’s attack on the federal judiciary is available here: https://www.lambdalegal.org/blog/20210105_new-report-four-years-trump
