Both Georgia Senate races will advance to runoffs because no single candidate in either race reached the required 50% threshold for an outright win, the New York Times reports. The runoffs will occur January 5th, one day before the Senate is seated for the next session of Congress.
The “jungle primary” which had more than 20 candidates in it for the seat currently held by republican appointee Kelly Loeffler finished with Rev. Raphael Warnock finishing on top with 32.9% of the vote. Loeffler finished second with 26%. Those two will face off in the general election.
In the other race, incumbent republican Senator David Perdue failed to reach 50% of the vote, getting only 49.8% of the vote. His opponent, Democrat Jon Ossoff, earned 47.9% of the vote.
These two races will determine control of the Senate in the upcoming session. If republicans win the final two races, in North Carolina and Alaska, Democrats will have to win both Georgia Senate runoffs to gain a 50-50 split, which will be decided by a tie-breaking vote by presumptive Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.