Ossoff scores victory over Perdue in Senate runoff

Democrat Jon Ossoff has defeated Republican David Perdue in the remaining Georgia Senate race — clinching control of the chamber for his party after fellow Democrat Raphael Warnock triumphed in the state’s other runoff election.

Ossoff, an investigative journalist and former congressional candidate, had 50.3 percent of the vote to Perdue’s 49.7 percent when The Associated Press called the race on Wednesday, with 98 percent of precincts reporting.

Ossoff’s victory resets the Senate’s balance of power at 50-50 and comes after Warnock vanquished incumbent Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler earlier on Wednesday — securing a Democratic majority for the first time since 2014 due to Vice President-elect Kamala Harris’s ability to cast tie-breaking votes in the chamber.

Democrats’ twin victories in Georgia have huge implications for President-elect Joe Biden’s legislative agenda, as he will not be forced to navigate a Republican Senate and negotiate with Majority Leader Mitch McConnell during the opening years of his administration.

The Georgia results also represent a triumphant coda for Democrats’ 2020 campaign season, which began last year with high hopes for wresting back control of the Senate.

Instead, Democratic candidates fell short in many battlegrounds across the country, while the races for Georgia’s two Senate seats proceeded to runoffs after no candidate earned more than 50 percent of the vote in the November election.

original article here https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/06/jon-ossoff-wins-georgia-runoff-455596