Democrat Warnock wins in Georgia; second runoff, Senate control undecided
Democrats must win both contests in Georgia to take control of the Senate.
By REUTERSGEORGIA DEMOCRATIC US Senate candidates Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff appear side by side ahead of their January 5 runoff elections, in Atlanta, last month.(photo credit: MIKE SEGAR / REUTERS)
Democratic challenger Raphael Warnock won a hotly contested US Senate race in Georgia over Republican incumbent Kelly Loeffler, TV networks and Edison Research projected, but which party will control the chamber was up in the air with a second contest still undecided.Warnock, a Baptist preacher, defeated Loeffler in one of two runoff elections in Georgia that will decide control of the Senate - and whether Republicans will be able to block President-elect Joe Biden's agenda.The race between Democrat Jon Ossoff and Republican David Perdue was still too close to call.With 98% reporting, Warnock was ahead of Loeffler by a percentage point, roughly 40,000 votes, while Ossoff led Perdue by about 3,560 votes, according to Edison Research.The critical races drew an estimated 4.5 million voters - a record for a runoff - along with nearly half a billion dollars in advertising spending since Nov. 3 and visits on Monday by Republican President Donald Trump and President-elect Joe Biden.Most of the votes remaining to be counted were in counties Biden won in November, with roughly 30,000 to go in DeKalb and Newton counties near Atlanta, according to Edison Research estimates."We were told that we couldn’t win this election. But tonight, we proved that with hope, hard work and the people by our side, anything is possible," Warnock told supporters in a livestream message before the projection."I am going to the Senate to work for all of Georgia, no matter who you cast your vote for in this election."Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said election officials would take a break overnight but resume counting on Wednesday morning. "Hopefully by noon we'll have a better idea where we are," he said on CNN.Democrats must win both contests to take control of the Senate. A Democratic sweep would create a 50-50 split in the Senate and give Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, as president of the Senate, the tie-breaking vote after she and Biden take office on Jan. 20. The party already has a narrow majority in the House of Representatives.If Republicans hold the second seat, they would effectively wield veto power over Biden's political and judicial appointees as well as many of his legislative initiatives in areas such as economic relief, climate change, healthcare and criminal justice.No Democrat has won a US Senate race in Georgia in 20 years. The head-to-head runoff elections, a quirk of state law, became necessary when no candidate in either race exceeded 50% of the vote in November.Warnock will become Georgia's first Black US senator and Ossoff, at 33, would be the Senate's youngest member. Perdue is a former Fortune 500 executive who has served one Senate term. Loeffler, one of the wealthiest members of Congress, was appointed a year ago to fill the seat of a retiring senator.RECORD RUNOFF TURNOUTEdison expected a total of 4.4 million ballots to be cast, including the more than 3 million early votes that shattered the record for runoff elections even before Election Day arrived. The two races drew nearly half a billion dollars in advertising spending since Nov. 3, a staggering total that fueled a tsunami of television commercials.In Smyrna, about 16 miles (26 km) northwest of Atlanta, Terry Deuel said he voted Republican to ensure a check on Democratic power."The Democrats are going to raise taxes," the 58-year-old handyman said. "And Biden wants to give everyone free money - $2,000 each or something like that for COVID stimulus? Where are we going to get the money?"Ann Henderson, 46, cast ballots at the same location for Ossoff and Warnock, saying she wanted to break Washington's gridlock by delivering the Senate to Democrats."It's the social issues - civil rights, racial equality, voting rights, pandemic response," she said. "If we take it, maybe we can get something done for a change."US equity market index futures were broadly weaker as the results turned in favor of the Democrats, signaling stocks could open on the soft side on Wednesday morning. The benchmark S&P 500 e-mini futures contract was down 0.6%, while futures tracking the tech-heavy Nasdaq were off by 1.3%.The campaign's final days were overshadowed by Trump's efforts to subvert the presidential election results.On Saturday, Trump pressured Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a fellow Republican, on a phone call to "find" enough votes to reverse Biden's victory, falsely claiming massive fraud.Trump's bid to undo his loss - with some Republicans planning to object to the certification of Biden's win when Congress meets on Wednesday to formally count the presidential vote - have split his party and drawn condemnation from critics who accuse him of undermining democracy.At a rally in Georgia on Monday night, Trump again declared the November vote "rigged," an assertion some Republicans worried would dissuade his supporters from voting on Tuesday.His attacks appear to have undermined public confidence in the electoral system. Edison's exit poll found more than seven in 10 were very or somewhat confident their votes would be counted accurately, down from 85% who said the same in a Nov. 3 exit poll.Gabriel Sterling, a top Georgia election official, told CNN that - in his opinion - Republican losses would fall on Trump."When you tell people your vote doesn’t count, it’s been stolen, and people start to believe that, and then you go to the two senators and tell them to ask the Secretary of State to resign and trigger a civil war inside the Republican Party ... all of that stems from his decision-making,” he said.If elected, Warnock would become Georgia's first Black US senator and Ossoff, at 33, the Senate's youngest member. Perdue is a former Fortune 500 executive who has served one Senate term. Loeffler, one of the wealthiest members of Congress, was appointed a year ago to fill the seat of a retiring senator.
