Georgia Senate election results: Jon Ossoff declared runoff winner as ‘militia gathers’ at state Capitol
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Democrats took control of the Senate after Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock defeated Republicans David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler by razor-thin margins.
The victories were overshadowed by riots in Washington DC as a mob of Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol in an effort to stop the count of the Electoral College votes declaring Joe Biden as president elect.
The chaos spread to Georgia as governor Brian Kemp and secretary of state Brad Raffensperger were reportedly evacuated after a 'militia' gathered outside the state Capitol.
Mr Ossoff, 33, becomes the youngest man to enter the Senate since president-elect Joe Biden did so himself in 1973 while Reverend Warnock becomes the state’s first black senator and only the second black senator elected to represent a former Confederate state.
Their wins mean that both parties have 50 senators each, leaving the deciding vote in legislative matters with vice president-elect Kamala Harris and seeing Mitch McConnell deposed as majority leader.
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Ossoff’s lead grows beyond margin of recounts, report
This via NYT’s polling expert Nate Cohn, who says the lead is now up to 0.8 points with more ballots in Democrat-leading areas to count.
Georgia’s outgoing senator Kelly Loeffler changed position on objecting to election
Georgia’s outgoing senator Kelly Loeffler did not object to the certification of the election.
“When I arrived in Washington this morning I full intended to object to the certification of the electoral votes, however the events that have transpired today have forced me to reconsider and I cannot now in good consciousness object to the certification of these electors,” she said.
Just in: Perdue responds to violence at US Capitol
The losing Senator in the Georgia runoff has responded to the violence in Washington DC, saying “no level of frustration or disappointment in our political process excuses such despicable, anarchic behaviour”.
“The violence at the US Capitol today is disgraceful and un-American. We are a nation of laws and the greatest Democracy in the history of the world,” he said.
Read the full statement below, via Georgia reporter Stephen Fowler.
Dems’ Georgia alliance is diverse and broad. Is it durable?
President Donald Trump came to the north Georgia mountains Monday night to gin up turnout in conservative strongholds and stave off the Democratic challengers who threatened the GOP’s Senate majority in two runoff elections.
It didn't work.
Republicans' overwhelming white, older and rural and exurban coalition failed the GOP Senate candidates in Tuesday's high-stakes elections, while Democrats proved their alliance that succeeded in defeating Donald Trump in the state in November was not a fluke.
Black and young voters suburbanites and the many recent arrivals to the state showed up a second time in two months to back Democrats, handing Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock narrow victories over Republicans David Perdue and Sen. Kelly Loeffler - AP
Dems' Georgia alliance is diverse and broad. Is it durable?
President Donald Trump came to the north Georgia mountains Monday night ostensibly to goose turnout in the surrounding conservative strongholds and stave off strong Democratic challengers who threatened the GOP’s Senate majority in two runoff elections
What Georgia wins would mean for Biden’s power in office
For Independent Premium, Sean O’Grady writes the next Congress will be more significant for what it won’t do rather than what it will.
“Joe Biden is simply not as scary as Donald Trump, and that has left him in a relatively strong position. Yet it is relative. Mr Biden can now lay claim to a marginally stronger mandate for his plans. That will help him deliver some modest reforms to Obamacare (which he helped get through Congress in 2010 when he was vice president). He will also be able to pursue a more aggressive campaign against Covid, and almost certainly be able to rejoin the Paris Climate Accord.”
That’s what he can do. But what will be left on the cutting room floor?
What Georgia wins would mean for Biden’s power in office
The president-elect can now lay claim to a marginally stronger mandate for his plans, writes Sean O’Grady, but perhaps the more significant thing about the imminent 117th Congress is what it will not do
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