Democrats win both senate seats in Georgia runoff election
Two wins give Democrats control of the Senate
Democrats, Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, win Georgia Run-off, making Warnock the first black senator of Georgia.
Two months ago, the American people participated in the general election. Their votes were cast for the President, House of Representatives, and the Senate seats.
In Georgia, during this election, there were three candidates running for each Senate seat. However, no candidate gained more than a 50% majority which, in Georgia law, results in a runoff election.
So, why does the runoff matter so much?
After the general election, Republicans were left with 50 Senate seats while the Democrats had 48. The outcome of the runoff determines which party will have control over the Senate and therefore which policies President-elect Joe Biden will be able to put into place.
With a full Democrat win, they would create an equal number of party members in the Senate. The tie breaker would be Vice President- elect Kamala Harris. This would ultimately give the Democrats the majority in both houses of Congress and the Executive branch.
This brings us to Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2021. Republicans David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler fought to keep their Senate seats against democrats Jon Ossoff and Reverend Raphael Warnock.
Starting at 7:00 p.m., the results came trickling in.
The night started with a heavy Democrat lead, due to some of the mail in ballots being counted first. As the night moved on, however, the candidates fought closely and took turns in the lead.
With 98% of the votes in at 12:00 am on Jan. 6, the stakes were high. Warnock held the lead of .8%, while Perdue and Ossoff were only a few thousand votes apart, making them virtually tied.
The results the next morning projected Reverend Raphael Warnock as the winner with a 1.2% lead. He will be the first Black senator of Georgia.
At 4:20 p.m., The Wall Street Journal announced Jon Ossoff as the projected winner of his race as well.
If the results remain the same, the Democrats will take the majority in the Senate, House, and Presidency.
“The Georgia election is a phenomenal example of how our democracy is supposed to work, said Taha Vahanvaty ’21. “Despite continual challenges that it was invalid and rigged, the fact remains that our election system is stronger than the pundits attempting to destroy it.”
Below are the results of the George runoff election:
