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.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
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.
A free daily email with the day’s biggest news and analysis – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.