Georgia Democrat Jon Ossoff is designed by ABC News to defeat former Republican Senator David Perdue, handing over party control to both Congressional chambers for the first time in a decade at a disturbing time in American history.
The projection in the race came when the nation’s Capitol, where Ossoff is expected to join Reverend Raphael Warnock of Georgia in the Senate, was under siege by supporters of President Donald Trump. Chaotic and violent events began to unfold while Congress was in the middle of counting electoral votes for the presidential race, despite Trump’s refusal to accept the result. This process was interrupted by protesters who violated the Capitol.
With projected victories in the twin contests of Warnock and Ossoff, President-elect Joe Biden will have a restricted majority in the Senate, with both parties holding 50-50 seats each, allowing the tiebreaker vote to be cast by Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
“I want to thank the people of Georgia for participating in this election, everyone who voted, everyone who put their faith and confidence in our democracy’s ability to offer the representation we deserve, whether you are for me or against me, I will be for you in the Senate of the United States, “said Ossoff in videotaped comments on Wednesday morning, in which he declared victory before there was a projection.
Ossoff was locked in a slightly more heated race than his Democratic counterpart and now leads Perdue by about 34,000 votes, compared to Warnock’s almost 70,000 vote advantage over Loeffler. But the margin by which Ossoff is leading is currently 0.7% of the total vote, which is outside the 0.5% margin needed for his Republican opponent to request an automatic recount of the votes.
In the other Senate race, ABC News projected Warnock’s victory in the early hours of Wednesday morning. He defeated Senator Kelly Loeffler, who was appointed to her post in late 2019 by Governor Brian Kemp after the retirement of former Senator Johnny Isakson.
Ossoff and Warnock represent two historic victories for Georgia’s Democrats. Warnock, the senior pastor of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s former pulpit, Atlanta Ebenezer Baptist Church, will be the first black senator to represent Georgia, while Ossoff, a 33-year-old Jewish media executive and investigative journalist, will be the youngest Democrat elected to the Senate since Biden was elected in 1972. Neither has ever won an elected post, and Ossoff achieved national prominence as a candidate in the 2017 special elections for Georgia’s 6th congressional district. He narrowly missed the race, and the campaign is the most expensive ever.
“Georgia is in an incredible place when you think about the arc of our history, we are sending an African American pastor from Baptist Ebenezer church, where Martin Luther King Jr. served and also Jon Ossoff, a young Jew, son of an immigrant to the US Senate, “Warnock said on ABC’s” Good Morning America “program on Wednesday. “This is a reversal of the old southern strategy that sought to divide people.”
The last two Democrats to represent Georgia in the Senate left office in January 2003 and January 2005, respectively. In the eight second-round state elections held since 1992, before Tuesday’s elections, Democrats never prevailed, even when their candidate was leading the general election.
In the November election, Ossoff lost to Perdue by approximately 88,000 votes, with Perdue narrowly missing the required 50% threshold that a candidate must reach in Georgia to avoid a runoff.
The odds and history were against the candidates, but Democratic voters in the state were motivated, after Biden’s narrow victory over Trump in November – the first time a Democrat has secured Peach state’s electoral votes since ex-President Bill Clinton in 1992.
And during the two-month run-off campaign, Trump and his Republican allies, including the two Republican candidates and the Republican Party of Georgia, spread conspiracy theories about non-existent electoral fraud. The president’s rhetoric about a “rigged” election – including calling the second round “illegal and invalid” on Twitter a few days before election day – raised real concern among the Republican Party that its electoral participation would be suppressed.
“If you look at the past few months, the President of the United States has spent more time attacking Governor (Brian) Kemp and Secretary Raffensperger than Raphael Warnock and Senator – probably Ossoff,” Republican Gabriel Sterling, the voting system manager of implementation at Raffensperger’s office, he said on Wednesday before the race was called to Ossoff.
In an interview with CNN, Sterling said: “The President of the United States is 100% responsible” for Loeffler and Perdue’s mediocre performance.
While the Republican Party focused on general elections, Democrats were mobilizing for the second round. Stacey Abrams, a 2018 Democratic candidate for the government and founder of the voting group Fair Fight, received high praise for her work in registering new voters and then ensuring that they showed up to vote.
“It is clear that last night’s performance, alongside President-elect Biden’s victory in Georgia in November, is a testament to the power of Stacey Abrams’ relentless and often unannounced grassroots work and visionary and resilient leadership.” , former President Barack Obama said in a statement Wednesday.
With two more Democrats going to the Senate, Biden will have more leeway in politics and nominations when he takes office. If Republicans maintained control of the Senate, it would leave the Republican Party with influence over the legislative proposals of Biden and his nominees for the next two years.
When he gets a majority depends on how quickly Georgia will certify the election results. Counties can accept certain types of ballots until this Friday. They must certify their results a week later, by January 15. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is expected to certify the results statewide by January 22, two days after Biden’s inauguration, although it is possible that counties and the state will be able to certify faster than that. The governor must also issue a certificate of election to the winners, but the timeframe for doing so is uncertain. ABC News is asking the governor’s office for clarity.
Democratic control of the Senate will be crucial to Biden’s legislative agenda, and talk of $ 2,000 stimulus payments is already circulating.
“We will be able to cash out the checks for $ 2,000 immediately to those who are really suffering,” said Biden on Tuesday, before the races started.
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer – who is about to take over from majority leader Mitch McConnell – said stimulus payments would be one of his first priorities.
“One of the first things I want to do when our new senators are in office is to hand over $ 2,000 checks to American families,” he added.
“We certainly didn’t choose the most direct way to get here, but we are here,” he said at a news conference on Wednesday morning. “It feels like a new day.”