Democrats win first Georgia runoff election
Victory means senate control within reach
Joe Biden’s Democratic Party took a giant step towards seizing control of the US Senate yesterday, as they won the first of two Georgia run-offs, hours before Congress was set to certify the president-elect’s victory over Donald Trump.
Reverend Raphael Warnock’s victory, projected by multiple US networks overnight, capped a gruelling nine-week runoff campaign and puts Georgia’s other knife-edge race in the spotlight for its potential to impact the balance of power in Washington.
“I promise you this tonight: I am going to the Senate to work for all of Georgia,” Reverend Warnock said in a livestream to supporters.
Should Republicans lose the second race, it would be a political debacle just hours before Mr Trump is expected to suffer another bitter blow when Congress affirms Mr Biden’s Electoral College victory.
Multiple Republicans have signalled they will try to block the certification of the vote.
But their numbers appear slim and the House and Senate are all but guaranteed to reject the effort and certify the Electoral College results.
Rev Warnock, 51, made history as just the third African American to win a Senate seat from the South. He defeated Kelly Loeffler, a 50-year-old businesswoman appointed to the Senate in December 2019.
In the second race, Democrat Jon Ossoff’s campaign manager said in a statement that once all votes are counted they “fully expect” Mr Ossoff will have defeated his Republican opponent.
As of press time yesterday, a quick count service provided by DecisionDesk placed Mr Ossoff as the winner of the race. If the result is certified, then Democrats will control the US Senate for the first time since 2015.
Such results would be a major political upset in a GOP bastion, a southern state that has been reliably Republican for two decades but which Mr Biden won in an upset on Nov 3 as he marched to victory against Mr Trump in the presidential race.
It would also send reverberations through Washington and the nation, as it would essentially hand Mr Biden’s Democrats the levers of power in the executive branch and both chambers of Congress.
With 97% of precincts reporting, Mr Warnock was ahead by 46,551 votes out of nearly 4.4 million cast, or 1%.
Ms Loeffler, however, refused to concede. “It’s worth it for this election to last into tomorrow, we’re going to make sure every vote is counted,” she told supporters.
Democrats need both candidates to prevail in order to snatch the Senate from the Republicans. If Mr Perdue holds on to win, Republicans preserve their Senate majority.
“Georgia — The nation is looking to you to lead us forward,” tweeted President-elect Biden earlier on Tuesday.
“The power is in your hands,” wrote the 78-year-old Democrat, who like Mr Trump visited the Peach State to rally supporters on the eve of the vote.
Georgia was voting during a week of high political tensions, with Mr Trump desperately scheming to reverse his election loss.
Also yesterday, Vice President Mike Pence was to preside over a joint session of Congress to certify the Electoral College vote that confirmed Mr Biden as
the winner of the White House.
Mr Trump said he was planning to address a rally near the White House in protest at the certification, with hundreds of supporters in red “Make America Great Again” caps gathered downtown amid a heavy police presence, as
shop owners, fearing unrest, boarded up windows.
Mr Trump has urged Mr Pence to “reject fraudulently chosen electors” — a move the vice president has no legal authority to make — while dozens of House Republicans and 12 Senate
Republicans have separately said they will raise objections to certification.
The move lacks sufficient support and is doomed to fail.
Democratic victories in Georgia — where a record three million-plus people voted early amid the coronavirus pandemic — would break the runoff winning streak that Republicans have held in the statewide races since 1992.
Voting figures in several Georgia counties showed Republican slippage against Mr Trump’s numbers from November.