Democrat Jon Ossoff won a Georgia Senate seat in Tuesday’s runoff election after a narrow vote and amid a deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol, according to reports.
Throughout the day, Ossoff held a narrow lead over Republican David Perdue. Ossoff, 33, will be the youngest U.S. senator.
The runoff election was largely overshadowed when supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol on Wednesday, however, the race was crucial for the Senate. With Ossoff’s victory and Kamala Harris as vice president, the Senate is now controlled by the Democrats.
"It is with humility that I thank the people of Georgia for electing me to serve you in the United States Senate," Ossoff said Wednesday.
In the second runoff election on Wednesday, the Rev. Raphael Warnock, the senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, took victory over GOP candidate Kelly Loeffler to become the first Black senator from Georgia.
"That's why I love this country so much and I refuse to give in to the forces of cynicism,” the reverend said on CNN Wednesday. “It takes hard work. Change is slow, often it comes in fits and starts. Our democracy tends to expand and then there are moments when it contracts."
Warnock is the first Georgia Democrat elected to the Senate in 20 years, according to CNN.
"I am an iteration and an example of the American dream," the senator-elect told CNN's John Berman Wednesday morning on "New Day." He added, "When I think about the arc of our history, what Georgia did last night is its own message in the midst of a moment in which so many people are trying to divide our country, at a time we can least afford to be divided."
For the first time since the 1990s in the presidential election, Georgia voters also selected a Democratic presidential candidate, President-elect Joe Biden.
In November, no Georgia Senate candidate received 50 percent of the vote, leading to two special runoff elections.
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Michael M. Santiago/Staff
Amanda Casanova is a writer living in Dallas, Texas. She has covered news for ChristianHeadlines.com since 2014. She has also contributed to The Houston Chronicle, U.S. News and World Report and IBelieve.com. She blogs at The Migraine Runner.
