ATLANTA — Georgia's top Democratic leaders, including U.S. Senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, were absent from the state Democratic Party’s annual Carter-Lewis Dinner Friday night, citing a failed government funding vote in the U.S. Senate as the reason for their absence.

The high-profile fundraising event, held at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Atlanta, was expected to feature both of Georgia’s U.S. senators. However, late in the day, news broke that neither would attend due to ongoing negotiations in Washington over a government shutdown.

“We learned right before the dinner started that both U.S. senators wouldn’t be here,” 11Alive’s Angelina Salcedo reported from the scene. “Today’s vote failed just hours before the event began.”

The Senate’s attempt to pass a clean stopgap f

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