georgia senate runoffs
Democrat Jon Ossoff projected to win Georgia Senate seat
Democrat Jon Ossoff will win the race to succeed Republican David Perdue in Georgia's Senate runoff, The Associated Press and NBC News project.
With 98 percent of the vote reporting, Ossoff won 50.28 percent of the vote to Perdue's 49.72 percent, and had about a 25,000-vote lead over Perdue as of Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. Ossoff will be the first Jewish man to represent Georgia, and at 33, the youngest senator elected since President-elect Joe Biden joined the body in 1972.
Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock were running against Perdue and Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.), respectively, in Tuesday's runoff elections after no candidates gained 50 percent support in November. Warnock was projected to win his special election early Wednesday morning, and had a 65,000-vote lead over Loeffler as of Wednesday afternoon.
Ossoff's win shores up Democrats' takeover of the Senate, albeit with a slim 50-50 margin. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will serve as a tiebreaker when the two parties are divided.