6 Jan 2021
Twice-failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton weighed in following the tight Senate Georgia runoff elections, one of which has been called for Democrat challenger Raphael Warnock, claiming victory for Democrats in the Senate.
“Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell,” Clinton said in a Wednesday morning tweet:
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Only one race has been called, with the balance of power in the Senate standing at 50 Republicans and 49 Democrats, as of 10:30 a.m. Eastern.
However, a victory for Jon Ossoff, who is leading GOP incumbent Sen. David Perdue (R-GA) by less than half a percentage point with 98 percent reporting, would result in a 50-50 split in the upper chamber, handing the power over to the party in the White House, which is widely expected to be controlled by Biden administration.
January 06, 2021
2:34 PM ET
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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer declared that Democrats had regained control of the Senate and said he would serve as Senate “majority leader” during a Wednesday press conference.
“It feels like a brand new day. For the first time in six years, Democrats will operate a majority in the United States Senate and that will be very good for the American people,” Schumer told reporters. “The Senate Democratic majority is committed to delivering the bold change and help that Americans need and demand.”
WATCH:
Democrats are anticipating control of the White House and both chambers of Congress after multiple election projections indicated that Democratic candidates will win both Georgia Senate runoff races, according to The Hill.
Democratic candidates Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff have won runoff races in the southern state of Georgia, The Associated Press news agency has projected.
The victories will give Democrats control of the US Senate and have national ramifications for President-elect Joseph Biden’s administration when he takes office later this month.
The elections of both candidates are historic. Warnock, 51, who serves as pastor for the same Atlanta church that civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr once led, will become the first Black senator from Georgia in history and the first Black Democrat ever from the American South.
Ossoff will become the first Jewish senator from Georgia. At 33 years old, he will be the youngest senator and the first of the millennial-generation in the chamber.
The two wins give Democrats 50 seats in the 100-person chamber, with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris able to cast tiebreaking votes.
Alongside President-elect Joe Biden and a Democratic-controlled House of Representatives, the victories mean that Democrats will control both the White House and Congress for the first time since the party was crushed in the 2010 midterms during President Barack Obama s first term.
Earlier in the week, Biden acknowledged the significance of the race at an event in Atlanta, urging supporters to turn out to vote. The power is literally in your hands, he told Democrats there. One state can chart the course not just for the next four years but for a generation.