10.30am EST10:30
David Perdue’s announcement that he will challenge sitting Governor Brian Kemp for the Republican nomination comes less than a week after Democrat Stacey Abrams launched her own gubernatorial campaign.
Abrams’ campaign sets up a potential rematch against Kemp, depending on whether he can best Perdue. Kemp narrowly defeated Abrams in the 2018 gubernatorial race, although she blamed the loss on voter suppression.
In the years since, Abrams has devoted herself to voting rights, establishing the organizing group Fair Fight to help register hundreds of thousands of voters in Georgia.
Democrats have credited Abrams with helping to carry Joe Biden and Senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock to victory in Georgia. The gubernatorial race will test whether Democrats can achieve another statewide victory in the historically conservative state.
10.13am EST10:13
Perdue officially enters Georgia gubernatorial race
Former Republican Senator David Perdue has officially launched his primary challenge against Georgia Governor Brian Kemp.
In a video announcing his bid, Perdue warned of the potential peril of electing Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams and blamed Kemp for Republican losses in the Georgia Senate runoffs earlier this year.
Perdue narrowly lost his own runoff race to Democratic Senate candidate Jon Ossoff, who was elected alongside fellow Democrat Raphael Warnock in January.
David Perdue
(@Perduesenate)
I’m running for Governor to make sure Stacey Abrams is NEVER Governor of Georgia. We need bold conservatives who will stand up to the woke left, not cave to their radical demands. Join me in this fight to Stop Stacey and Save Georgia. pic.twitter.com/iQMMV97ynw
December 6, 2021
“This isn’t personal; it’s simple. He has failed all of us and cannot win in November,” Perdue said of Kemp in his announcement video.
“Instead of protecting our elections, he caved to Abrams and cost us two Senate seats, the Senate majority, and gave Joe Biden free rein.”
Donald Trump had encouraged Perdue to jump into the race, as the former president has continued to attack Kemp for refusing to attempt to overturn Biden’s 2020 victory in Georgia.
Trump is expected to soon formally endorse Perdue’s primary challenge, according to CNN.
Kyung Lah
(@KyungLahCNN)
Donald Trump will endorse former Georgia Sen. David Perdue in his primary challenge against incumbent Rep. Gov. Brian Kem, per spox for Trump to @CNN’s @GabbyOrr_
Perdue expected to announce his bid for governor on this morning & had been encouraged by Trump to run against Kemp
December 6, 2021
10.02am EST10:02
The largest oil and gas companies made a combined $174bn in profits in the first nine months of the year as gasoline prices climbed in the US, according to a new report.
The bumper profit totals, provided exclusively to the Guardian, show that in the third quarter of 2021 alone, 24 top oil and gas companies made more than $74bn in net income.
From January to September, the net income of the group, which includes Exxon, Chevron, Shell and BP, was $174bn.
Exxon alone posted a net income of $6.75bn in the third quarter, its highest profit since 2017, and has seen its revenue jump by 60% on the same period last year.
The company credited the rising cost of oil for bolstering these profits, as did BP, which made $3.3bn in third-quarter profit. “Rising commodity prices certainly helped,” Bernard Looney, chief executive of BP, told investors at the latest earnings report.
Gasoline prices have hit a seven-year high in the US due to the rising cost of oil, with Americans now paying about $3.40 for a gallon of fuel compared with around $2.10 a year ago.
10.02am EST10:02
Lawmakers face off (again) over debt ceiling
Greetings from Washington, live blog readers.
Congress is bracing for another battle over the debt ceiling, as lawmakers look to avoid a default that would have devastating effects on the US economy.
The debate comes two months after Congress approved a short-term debt ceiling suspension that delayed a potential default.
Politico reports:
House Democratic leaders have discussed adding a provision addressing the debt ceiling to the final National Defense Authorization Act and voting on it as soon as this week, according to a senior Democratic aide. That’s assuming, of course, that compromise NDAA language is ironed out between the two chambers. Senate Minority Leader MITCH MCCONNELL has privately signaled to Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER that he could go along with this idea, which would end their months-long stalemate.
But as Politico notes, it remains unclear whether such a proposal can pass the Democratic-controlled House, given some progressive pushback to the NDAA.
And with Democrats’ extremely narrow majority in the House, speaker Nancy Pelosi can only afford a few “no” votes in her caucus if she wants to pass the bill.
The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.