Georgia delivers Senate to Democrats

Democrats on Wednesday completed a sweep of the two U.S. Senate seats in runoff elections in Georgia, granting them control of Congress and the White House for the first time since 2011.

Democrat Jon Ossoff defeated Republican David Perdue, according to The Associated Press, making him the youngest member of the U.S. Senate and the first Jewish senator from Georgia.

Earlier, Raphael Warnock, a pastor from Atlanta, defeated Sen. Kelly Loeffler after a bitter campaign. Warnock becomes the first Black Democrat elected to the Senate from a Southern state.

The twin victory will give the party control of the chamber and boost the prospects for President-elect Joe Biden’s ambitious legislative agenda.

Edison Research projected victory for Jon Ossoff, a documentary filmmaker, on Wednesday afternoon after fellow Democrat Raphael Warnock, a Baptist preacher, was projected as the victor in his Senate race in the early hours of Wednesday.

In Tuesday’s runoffs, Warnock defeated Kelly Loeffler, who was appointed a year ago to fill the seat of a retiring senator, and Ossoff beat David Perdue, who served a single term in the Senate.

Ossoff drew 50.3% and Perdue had 49.7% with 98% of the expected vote in, according to Edison. That pushed Ossoff’s lead beyond the margin needed to avoid a possible recount.

The double Democratic triumph splits the Senate 50-50, with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris’s tie-breaking vote giving Democrats control of the chamber.

Each of the 50 states is represented by two senators in the 100-seat chamber.

The sweep by the two Democratic candidates gives their party control of both chambers of Congress and the White House for the first time in a decade, dramatically shifting the balance of power in Washington.