Democrats closer to controlling Congress after tight Georgia runoffs

One Democratic candidate in Georgia’s twin Senate runoff elections was projected the winner over his Republican opponent, while the other Democratic hopeful held a narrow lead, as the final votes in the southern state were being tallied early Wednesday.

The stakes are enormous for US President-elect Joe Biden’s legislative agenda: If both Democrats win, the Senate will be split 50-50 with Vice President Kamala Harris as the tie-breaking vote. Democrat Raphael Warnock was projected by multiple US media outlets to have won his race against the incumbent Republican senator, Kelly Loeffler.

Warnock, a 51-year-old newcomer to politics who is a pastor for the Atlanta church where civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr preached, had a one percentage point lead with almost all ballots counted.

Warnock would be the first black person to represent Georgia in the US Senate.

“Tonight, we proved that with hope, hard work, and the people by our side, anything is possible,” he told his supporters in an online speech shortly before US news organizations called the race for him. Loeffler, however, insisted there was “a path to victory, and we’re staying on it.”

In Tuesday’s other tight race, Jon Ossoff, the 33-year-old former head of a documentary film company, had a knife’s edge lead over Republican candidate David Perdue, 70.
DPA, 06TH JANUARY, 2021