Democrats Take Control of the Senate in Historical Georgia Election

 On Tuesday, Jan. 5, Democrats took control of the Senate after Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff defeated incumbent Republicans Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue. With these victories, the Democrats now have control of the both houses of Congress.

  The Georgia runoff election occurred because none of the candidates were able to win over 50% of the votes during the November general election. Warnock will be the first black senator from Georgia, and Ossoff, 33 years old, will be the youngest sitting senator since Joe Biden. Though their victories ensure a 50-50 balance between Democrats and Republicans, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will be the tiebreaker, giving Democrats the advantage.

  “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.

  Over 4.4 million people voted in the election, which is more than double the amount who voted on Georgia’s 2008 Senate runoff. Ultimately, turnout tended to be higher in Democratic-leaning areas, such as the Atlanta area, compared to Republican-leaning areas. 

  “I’m just so very grateful to the people of Georgia. They sent a strong and clear message last night when they sent a person who grew up in public housing, one of 12 children in my family, I’m the first college graduate. That I am serving in the United States Senate in a few days pushes against the grain of so many expectations. But this is America,” Warnock said. 

  The news of their victories was quickly overshadowed by a day of chaos and violence as supporters of President Trump stormed the Capitol building, forcing Congress to recess while they were voting to count the Electoral College votes. 

  Both Ossoff and Warnock are the first Democratic senators to be elected from the state of Georgia since 2005, which may indicate that the once Republican-leaning state is turning blue after President-elect Joe Biden clinched the state last year.