As of 8:30 a.m. ET on Jan. 6, one of Georgia’s two U.S. Senate runoff elections had been called. Raphael Warnock (D) was projected as the winner of the special runoff election with 50.6% of the vote to incumbent Kelly Loeffler’s (R) 49.4%, according to unofficial results available as of Wednesday morning.
In the regular election, Jon Ossoff (D) led David Perdue (R) 50.2% to 49.8%. Ballotpedia will not project a winner until there is a consensus projection made by a pool of five national news outlets: ABC, CNN, FOX, NBC, and NYT. None of the outlets had called the election as of 8:30 a.m. ET Wednesday.
With Warnock’s win, the Democratic caucus in the U.S. Senate will have 49 members, while there are 50 Republicans in the chamber. If Perdue wins re-election, Republicans will maintain their Senate majority with 51 members. If Ossoff wins, Democrats will split the chamber 50-50 and Kamala Harris (D) will cast tie-breaking votes.
Perdue was elected to the Senate in 2014, and his term ended Jan. 3. His seat will remain vacant until the runoff election results are certified. Gov. Brian Kemp (R) appointed Loeffler after Johnny Isakson (R) resigned at the end of 2019 for health reasons. Warnock will serve the remaining two years of the term Isakson won in 2016.
Republicans framed the fight over Senate control as a fight against socialism in America. Democrats said the incoming Biden administration needs a Democratic Senate majority to make progress on healthcare and pandemic recovery.
Warnock will be the first Black U.S. Senator from Georgia. Georgia’s last Democratic senator, Zell Miller, left office in 2005.
Joe Biden was the first Democratic presidential nominee to win Georgia since Bill Clinton did so in 1992.
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