Democrats haven’t won a statewide general election in Georgia since 2006.
While the two Georgia Senate races may not be as close as the presidential one—in which former Vice President Joe Biden leads President Donald Trump by just over 4,000 votes—it’s likely that both will advance to a runoff. As the balance of power in the Senate is now at a near tie for Democrats and Republicans, the two runoffs could define the Senate majority or a possible split come January. In Georgia, along with nine other states, a candidate must secure a minimum of 50 percent of the votes to win a race. If no candidate reaches that requirement, the top two candidates face off in a separate runoff election. Republican incumbent Senator David Perdue currently holds 49.8 percent of the vote against Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff following a large number of ballots counted in Metro Atlanta and Chatham County—with a difference of just over 95,500 votes. The second Senate race was a special election between Republican incumbent Senator Kelly Loeffler—who was appointed by Governor Brian Kemp to replace Johnny Isakson, who resigned from office before the end of his term—and Democratic rival Raphael Warnock. The race was declared a runoff after Warnock received 32.9 percent of the votes,330,000 more than Loeffler. It’s also the most expensive statewide election in Georgia history, topping $150 million on ad campaigns for both races. With 99 percent of the votes counted statewide—and just 4,000 more absentee ballots to go—it’s likely that Perdue won’t get the necessary votes to reach 50 percent, thus officially declaring it a runoff as per Georgia election law. No matter the outcome of the Perdue-versus-Ossoff race, at least one runoff will be held on January 5 of next year. With Democrats and Republicans each holding 48 seats in the Senate so far into the election (with Alaska and North Carolina still awaiting results as the Republican candidates have an edge in those races), these runoffs put the contentious battle for control of the Senate into high gear. Democrats, who currently have a net gain of one Senate seat, would need to flip at least two more races to possibly win a majority in the Senate.
