‘Thank you Georgia’: Debra Messing and TI among celebrities to react as Democrats projected to win state

Raphael Warnock has become 11th black senator in US history

Celebrities have taken to Twitter to rejoice after Democratic challenger and Baptist pastor Raphael Warnock beat Republican incumbent Kelly Loeffler in the first of two Senate runoff elections in Georgia.

Warnock has become the first black senator for the state of Georgia – which was part of the Confederacy during the US Civil War – and the 11th black senator in US history.

The election in the state is being rerun because none of the candidates in the November general election achieved the 50% needed for victory.

Reacting to the news of Warnock’s success, Will & Grace star Debra Messing tweeted: “Thank you Georgia. Thank you Black voters. Thank you Latino voters. Thank you AAPI voters. When we vote, we win.”

Sharing an applause emoji, rapper TI wrote: “@ReverendWarnock declared victory. Georgia, you did it!!”

Warnock delivered a victory speech before any of the TV networks or Associated Press had called his race. Shortly after midnight, with his lead over Loeffler looking increasingly solid, he introduced himself as Georgia’s new senator-to-be.

Calling himself a “son of Georgia whose roots are planted deeply in Georgia soil”, he promised to work in the Senate for all of the state’s people. “We were told that we could not win this election, but tonight we proved that with hope, hard work and the people by our side, anything is possible.”

He went on: “Washington has a choice to make – all of us have a choice to make: will we continue to divide, distract and dishonour one another, or will we love our neighbours as we love ourselves?”

Earlier this week, the hosts of late-night TV in the US tore into Donald Trump over his latest attempt to overturn Joe Biden’s presidential win, accusing Republicans of trying to destroy democracy.

On Sunday 3 January, the Washington Post released audio of a call between Trump and several Georgia officials, during which he asked them to “find 11,780 votes” in order to overturn Biden’s win in the state.  

“I want to thank you very much. Hello Georgia. By the way, there's no way we lost Georgia, there's no way. That was a rigged election,” Trump said at the beginning of the call.

He went on to repeat debunked claims of fraud in the election, which he lost by seven million votes.