Democrats will have undivided control of Washington after they triumphed in two critical Senate runoff races in Georgia — potentially clearing the way for President-elect Joe Biden’s left-leaning legislative agenda.
Jon Ossoff, 33, unseated GOP Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga) to become the youngest US senator in 40 years, the Associated Press reported Wednesday afternoon.
And the Rev. Raphael Warnock was declared a winner around 2 am Wednesday over one-term Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.).
Each made history. Warnock becomes the first black senator in state history and Ossoff the first Jewish Georgia senator and the youngest member of the chamber.
Democrats will now be in control of the White House and both chambers of Congress for the first time since Barack Obama’s win in 2008.
The wins in Tuesday’s races create a 50-50 tie in the Senate with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris set to be the deciding vote come Jan. 20.
The Democratic majority means Mitch McConnell will be unseated as majority leader in favor of New York Democrat Chuck Schumer.
“It is with humility that I thank the people of Georgia for electing me to serve you in the United States Senate,” Ossoff said earlier Wednesday.
“Everybody who cast your ballot, everybody who put your faith and confidence in our democracy’s capacity to deliver the representation that we deserve — whether you were for me, or against me — I’ll be for you in the U.S. Senate,” Ossoff said. “I will serve all the people of the state.”
President Trump and other Republicans have warned of what they said would be dire consequences if both Democrats came out on top in Georgia’s runoff elections.
“The radical Democrats are trying to capture Georgia’s Senate seats so they could wield unchecked, unrestrained, absolute power on every aspect of your lives,” Trump said at a Monday rally in the Peach State.
“If these two [incumbents] don’t win, and if we don’t take the presidency, you have a country that will be run by Schumer, Pelosi and Biden,” the president added.
Both races came down to the wire, with the Democrats getting a boost from the counties surrounding Atlanta, including DeKalb, a largely blue county outside Atlanta that reported nearly 172,000 early in-person votes that turned both Republican leads into losses.
Warnock was declared the winner early Tuesday morning, but the gap between Ossoff and Perdue was closer.
Warnock led Loeffler by 65,000 votes. Ossoff was up by about 24,000 votes over Perdue.