Raphael Warnock has beaten outgoing Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler while Jon Ossoff leads for the second seat.
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A historic election, extraordinary suspense. The double senatorial, which was held Tuesday, January 5 in Georgia, decisive for the future President Joe Biden and his takeover of the Upper House in Congress, continues to hold the United States in suspense in the early hours of Wednesday. With fifty seats in their favor, against forty-eight for their opponents, the Republicans could hope to keep their majority in the Senate if they managed to keep at least one of the two seats at stake. They have already lost one. If the Democrats win the second, they will have control of the Senate, thanks to the voice of Vice President Kamala Harris.
Democrat Raphael Warnock was declared the winner shortly before 2 a.m., with 50.6% of the vote, against 49.4% for his opponent, the outgoing senator Kelly Loeffler. At the same time, Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff had taken the lead again against Republican David Perdue, leading by 16,000 votes in advance.
The rest of the count (less than 2% of vote) suggests that the candidate of Joe Biden’s party could finally cross, Wednesday in the day, the finish line with a short head: the votes not yet counted are in counties of the traditionally Democratic state and come from postal ballots, also generally more committed to the “blue vote” (the color of the Democratic Party).
First black senator
From midnight, Reverend Warnock created a surprise by addressing Georgians live from his YouTube channel: “Georgians, I am honored by the faith you place in me. (…) Every day spent in the Senate, I will fight for you”, he blurted out , from home, taking the main media in the country by surprise. His victory will be validated an hour and a half later.
With more than 0.5 point difference between the two candidates, the ballot will not be subject to an automatic recount. Raphael Warnock widened the gap with his competitor, even more than Joe Biden had done with Donald Trump, whom he had beaten with 11,779 votes of difference in November. Most importantly, at 51, he made history by becoming the first black senator from Georgia – and the 11th th in American history. “It’s amazing to see the South promoting an African American in the upper house,” even said David Jolly, a former Republican representative from Florida.
Pastor of a church in Atlanta where Martin Luther King officiated, he defends the idea of a Church more involved in political life. While Jon Ossoff, with whom he campaigns, embodies the moderate wing of the Democratic Party, he is more on the left wing. He supports the right to abortion and same-sex marriage in a black Church that is not necessarily in favor.
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