ATLANTA – Democrats on Wednesday completed a sweep of the two United States Senate seats up for grabs in runoff elections in the state of Georgia, giving the party control of the chamber and boosting the prospects for President-elect Joe Biden’s ambitious legislative agenda.
Raphael Warnock, a Baptist preacher from Martin Luther King Jr’s former church, beat Republican incumbent Kelly Loeffler to become the first Black senator in the deep South state’s history while Democrat Jon Ossoff, a documentary filmaker who at 33 would become the Senate’s youngest member, beat Republican David Perdue.
The results would give Democrats narrow control of both chambers of Congress, making it easier to appoint liberal-leaning judges and advance legislative priorities from coronavirus relief to climate change when Biden takes office on January 20.
“Georgia’s voters delivered a resounding message yesterday: they want action on the crises we face and they want it right now,” Biden said in a statement. He said he would work with both parties to confirm key administration officials quickly.
The Georgia result is a final repudiation of outgoing President Donald Trump, who stands to be the first U.S. president since 1932 to lose the White House and both chambers of Congress in a single term.
Trump held rallies for both Republican candidates, but overshadowed the campaign with false accusations that his own loss in the November presidential election in Georgia was tainted by fraud, repeatedly attacking Republican officials in the state. Hundreds of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Wednesday in an attempt to force Congress to undo Trump’s election loss.
With 98 per cent of the vote counted, Warnock led Loeffler by 1.5 percentage points and Ossoff led Perdue by 0.6 percentage points, according to Edison Research. Both are expected to win beyond the margin that would require a recount.
Winning both contests would hand Democrats narrow control of the Senate by creating a 50-50 split and giving Vice President-elect Kamala Harris the tie-breaking vote from January 20. The party already has a thin majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Republicans would have retained control of the Senate if they had held on to at least one of the Georgia seats. (Reuters)
