US Senate Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff of Georgia speaks to supporters during a rally on November 15, 2020 in Marietta, Georgia. Ossoff faces current US Senator David Purdue (R-GA) in one of two January 5 second rounds for the US Senate in Georgia.
Jessica McGowan | Getty Images
Democrat Jon Ossoff defeated Republican David Perdue in one of the two second rounds of the Georgia Senate, NBC News projected on Wednesday, sealing his party’s control over Congress and the White House.
The projection for the race came when troublemakers supporting President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol building after he asked his supporters at a rally to march to Congress.
Democrat Raphael Warnock is expected to defeat Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler in the second round of the state, a special election to serve in the Senate until 2022. The victories created a 50-50 split in the Senate, giving Democrats a small majority with the deputy. president – select Kamala Harris’ tiebreaker vote.
Democrats will have unified control of the Capitol and the White House for at least the first two years of President-elect Joe Biden’s term. Biden can pursue a broader agenda on issues such as coronavirus relief, health and infrastructure. Your nominees for office and court positions will also find it easier to pass the Senate.
In declaring victory on Wednesday morning, Ossoff, 33, thanked Georgia voters “for the confidence and trust they have placed in me”. He asked the Senate to act to “beat this virus and speed up economic aid to the people of our state and the American people”. He cited health, infrastructure and equal rights as his other priorities in Washington.
Ossoff will become the youngest member of the Senate. He and Warnock – who will become Georgia’s first African-American senator and the third acting black senator – sealed the first Democratic majority in the Senate since 2014.
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., previewed his Senate party’s agenda pushing for more relief for the coronavirus on Wednesday.
“As a majority leader, President-elect Biden and Vice-President-elect Harris will have a partner who is ready, willing and able to help deliver on a future-oriented agenda and offer bold help and change to the American people,” he said. in a statement.
Speaking to reporters late on Wednesday morning, Schumer said that “one of the first things I want to do when our new senators are meeting” is to approve direct payments of $ 2,000 coronavirus aid. The Senate failed to approve the autonomous measure, which President Donald Trump supported, before the runoff election, as Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell did not push for a vote.
Warnock and Ossoff seemed on track to win with greater margins than Biden had when he beat Georgia in November.
Perdue, 71, sought a second term in the Senate (technically he has not been a senator since Sunday, when the previous Congress ended). The dispute went to the second round when the Republican failed to obtain 50% of the votes against investigative filmmaker Ossoff in the November election.
A flurry of Perdue stock talks at the start of the coronavirus pandemic allegedly prompted regulators to probe his investments and Ossoff to declare him a “con man”. The Republican said a financial advisor did the negotiations.
Ossoff also claimed that Perdue did not respond to the outbreak, which killed more than 350,000 people in the United States. In the closing days of the second round, the Democrat pressured the then senator to support $ 2,000 in direct payments as part of the year-end coronavirus relief package.
Later, Perdue supported cash deposits while President Donald Trump pressured them. He also praised his vote in favor of the $ 900 billion bailout plan, which was developed after Congress let the financial life cycle of the pandemic era expire for months.
Perdue supported Trump’s effort to overturn Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election. The president claimed, but failed to prove through dozens of lawsuits, that systemic fraud cost him the election in states like Georgia, Pennsylvania and Michigan .
Perdue cannot vote on Wednesday to certify the votes of the Electoral College in Congress.
Ossoff competed emphasizing that Biden’s plank boards, including a $ 15 hourly minimum wage and a public health option, could be difficult to pass unless Democrats gained control of the Senate.
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