# Democrats’ longshot bid to win back the Senate rides on pair of Georgia Senate races

While other races remain yet to be called, all eyes have been on Georgia, where state law requires a winner to get at least 50% to win outright or face a runoff.

In one race, Democrat Rev. Raphael Warnock will face Republican incumbent Kelly Loeffler. Meanwhile with the Republican Perdue’s margin falling as more votes have been counted since Election Day, he will face Democrat Jon Ossoff, who lost a runoff for the House of Representatives in 2017.

“David Perdue won this race in regular time and will do the same in overtime,” said Kevin McLaughlin, executive director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee in a statement.

“Georgians have rejected Jon Ossoff’s liberal, socialist agenda not once, not twice, but three times. And the fourth time will not be the charm, but instead, a perfectly miserable experience for Jon Ossoff, national Democrats and their shared dream of a socialist America”, he said.

As of early Thursday afternoon, Perdue was hovering at 49.98% of the vote, according to the Georgia Secretary of State’s website. Ossoff, a journalist and CEO of a media production company, was at 47.71%.

While Senate races in other states have yet to be called, they are expected to remain in the Republican column. Victories in the two Georgia races would give Republicans a 52-48 advantage in the next Congress, down from 53-47 margin they hold now.

But if Democrats flipped the seats, an uphill challenge to be sure, they could cut the margin to 50-50, and Kamala Harris, as vice president, would determine control of the chamber for Democrats, if Biden wins. Of course, if it flips to 50-50 and Trump is re-elected, Vice President Mike Pence would cast the deciding votes.

Georgia has been a strong Republican state electorally for decades, but shifting voter demographics and GOP problems in the suburbs made it a target for Democrats in this presidential election year. That strategy paid off, as the state remains one of the last ones to be called by election analysts this year.

A Perdue-Ossoff rematch could overshadow the other Georgia Senate race. On December 4, 2019, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp selected Loeffler as the successor to Senator Johnny Isakson who resigned for health reasons. But a primary election for the Republican candidates did not occur ahead of Tuesday’s election, so under Georgia law a special general election took place on the same day as the regularly scheduled Senate election for the seat held by Perdue, and all candidates, regardless of party, were placed on the same ballot. 

While Collins and Loeffler combined for more than 46% of the vote Tuesday, the Democrat Warnock won almost 33% to come in second and may build off that base of support.

Warnock unveiled a humorous ad on Twitter Thursday warning he expects to be targeted by negative ads ahead of January that would accuse him of everything from eating pizza with a knife and fork to hating puppies.

“And by the way, I love puppies,” Warnock said in the ad.