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The NBC television network has projected Democrat Raphael Warnock the winner in his US Senate runoff election against Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler as the Democrats come within touching distance of winning the crucial elections that would give the party control of the Senate.
With 98 per cent of the vote in, Warnock led Loeffler 50.5 per cent to 49.5 per cent, according to Edison Research.
Mr Warnock, a pastor who is poised to become Georgia’s first black senator, had declared victory in a speech in Atlanta last night, though his opponent Ms Loeffler did not concede, claiming “we still have a path to victory.”
The other US Senate election was on a knife-edge Tuesday night with Democrats within touching distance of winning two crucial elections that would give the party control of the US Senate.
While Mr Ossoff was trailing Republican David Purdue by a few thousand votes, Democrats were quietly confident that the outstanding vote – predominantly from Democratic-leaning areas – would be enough to push Ossoff over the line.
While counting will continue on Wednesday, approximately 17,000 military and overseas votes will continue to be accepted until 5pm on Friday. US president Donald Trump accused officials of “finding” votes in Fulton County, and retweeted unsubstantiated allegations of election malpractice late on Tuesday.
The extraordinarily tight races have gained national attention because the outcome will determine which party controls the US Senate when Joe Biden becomes president on January 20th.
Should both Mr Warnock and Mr Ossoff win, Democrats will control 50 seats in the 100-member Senate, giving the party an effective majority because incoming vice-president Kamala Harris can cast the tie-breaking vote.
This would mean that Democrats will control both houses of Congress and the White House – a huge boost to Joe Biden as he prepares to assume the presidency. While no TV networks had called the race last night, the Cook Political Report called both races for the two Democratic candidates.
Turnout on Tuesday was lower than in November’s election, but was much higher than usual for run-off state elections.
Trump pressure
Approximately 4.3 million people voted, compared to 5 million in November’s elections. The run-off races were triggered in November after no candidate reached the 50 per cent threshold needed in the November 3rd contests.
Georgia has found itself in the firing line since that election, with Donald Trump disputing the results of the presidential election in the state which was narrowly won by Joe Biden.

US president Donald Trump applauds as he departs a campaign event on behalf of Georgia’s Republican senators, Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue. Photograph: Erin Schaff/New York Times


On Saturday, the president pressured Georgia’s secretary of state and officials to “find” extra votes to swing November’s election in his favour. On Tuesday, those same election officials oversaw the Senate run-off races which were conducted smoothly.
With indications pointing to a Democratic win, it appeared that Democrats may have broadly replicated Joe Biden’s success in November, when he became the first Democratic candidate in three decades to win the southern state, albeit by a small margin of less than 12,000 votes.
Once again, a strong performance in Atlanta and its suburbs, as well as Chatham County surrounding Savannah, appeared to offset support for the two Republican candidates in more rural areas.
The two Democratic challengers also ran up slightly larger margins in Democrat-leaning counties than Joe Biden in November. For example, in Richmond County, home to Augusta, Warnock and Ossoff won by about 40 points, compared to Biden’s 36 points two months ago.
Tuesday night’s tight races also cement Georgia’s status as a swing-state. Traditionally Republican-leaning, the state has witnessed an influx of new residents in recent years, while local officials like gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams have successfully increased voter registration among the state’s African-American population.
Jon Ossoff, a 33-year-old film-maker, and Raphael Warnock, a pastor at the Atlanta church where Martin Luther King jnr once preached, were seen at the outset as having an outside chance at dislodging the two Republican incumbents, though polls had tightened in recent weeks.
Ultimately, the race was extremely tight, with some Republicans voicing concern that Donald Trump’s attacks on the electoral system may have depressed Republican turnout.
First black senator
In an election first, Mr Warner is expected to become Georgia’s first black senator – a symbolically-important achievement in a state with a long history of racial injustice.
Tuesday’s elections took place ahead of a crucial joint session of Congress on Wednesday at which Joe Biden’s election victory is due to be officially confirmed. But several Republicans have said they will contest the results from certain states when they are announced in the chamber.

Election officials assist voters at a polling location during the US Senate runoff elections in Atlanta, Georgia. Photograph: Dustin Chambers/Bloomberg


Up to a third of Republicans in the Senate and more than 100 members of the House of Representatives plan to object to the election result in at least three, if not more, states. This is despite the fact that claims of widespread voter fraud perpetuated by the president have been dismissed by dozens of courts.
However, the mathematics of US Congress makes it virtually impossible that Joe Biden’s victory in November will be overturned.
Vice-president Mike Pence has also come under increasing pressure from the president in the last 48 hours to invalidate the results of the presidential election when Congress convenes. Mr Pence, who has been one of Mr Trump’s most loyal allies, will preside over today’s joint session of Congress.
While his role, which is set out in the constitution, is ceremonial, Mr Trump tweeted inaccurately yesterday that the vice-president “has the power to reject fraudulently chosen electors.”
Last night, the Trump campaign hit back at news reports that Mr Pence had informed the president that he lacked the power to change the result, branding it “fake news” and insisting that the vice-president and president were “in total agreement that the vice president has the power to act.”
Mr Trump is scheduled to address a “Save America” rally outside the White House on Wednesday, amid expectations that thousands of demonstrators will protest the election result. Washington’s mayor Muriel Bowser has deployed around 340 of the city’s 2,700-strong National Guard to reinforce local police amid fears that violence could flare. – Additional reporting from Reuters