Warnock, Ossoff Win in Georgia, Handing Democrats Senate Control

UPDATE: ATLANTA (AP) — Democrats have won both Georgia Senate seats — and with them, the U.S. Senate majority. That's a stunning defeat for President Donald Trump in his final days in office and it dramatically improves the fate of President-elect Joe Biden’s progressive agenda.

Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, Democratic challengers who represented the diversity of their party’s evolving coalition, defeated Republicans David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler. The twin victories Wednesday end nearly two decades in which Democrats have been shut out of statewide victories in Georgia.

Biden became the first Democratic presidential candidate to carry the state since 1992.

(Story written by STEVE PEOPLES, BILL BARROW and RUSS BYNUM/AP)

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UPDATE: Georgia U.S. Senate candidate Jon Ossoff is claiming victory, thanking Georgians for “electing me to serve you.”

The Associated Press has not declared a winner in the race between Democrat Ossoff and Republican incumbent David Perdue, which is too early to call.

Ossoff made the comments early Wednesday in a speech on social media. He said the campaign has been about health, jobs and justice for Georgians. He added that he intends to serve all people in the state.

Georgia’s two Senate runoff elections will decide control of the U.S. Senate. In the other race, Republican Kelly Loeffler lost to Democrat Raphael Warnock.

(Updated portion of article written by Associated Press)

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The balance of power in the United States Senate hangs on the ballots left to be counted in two Georgia Senate races tonight. The incumbents, Republicans David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, went into Tuesday night trying to hold off surging Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock as the GOP looks to maintain a slim edge in the Senate.

As the clock struck midnight in the Peach State, the elections had not been decided yet. Perdue and Ossoff were in a virtual tie while Warnock overtook Loeffler by a less than 1% margin. Decision Desk HQ did decide to call the race for Warnock while other national media outlets continue to wait.

Currently, Republicans hold a 50-48 lead in the U.S. Senate. But, if both Ossoff and Warnock pull off the upset wins, Democrats would tie the count up at 50 with Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris being the tiebreaker.

We'll continue to update you on the election results as the votes continue to be counted.