January 20, 2021

In Her First Act as VP, Kamala Harris Swears in Georgia Senators

Thus tipping the balance of power to the Democratic Party.

Senate Television/AP

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In her first act as vice president—and president of the Senate—Kamala Harris administered the oath of office to the two newly elected Democratic senators from Georgia, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, as well as California’s appointee to fill her former Senate seat, Alex Padilla.

“The chair lays before the Senate two certificates of election for the state of Georgia and a certificate of appointment to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of former Senator Kamala D. Harris of California,” she said.

In his first speech as Senate Majority Leader, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) noted the historic nature of Harris’ vice presidency and declared the Senate’s intention to address the coronavirus pandemic, racial and economic justice, and climate change. “The hope we feel today is a hope, of course, that’s tempered by reality,” he said. Referring to Biden’s inauguration speech, he continued, “The Senate must immediately set to work on the mission President Biden described, restoring the greatness and goodness of America”

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THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

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