Possession of the Senate could be decided in a high-stakes runoff in GA, where no major-party candidate received more than 50% of the vote Tuesday.
While a few Senate seats remained uncalled, Decision Desk estimated the upper chamber to be 49 Republicans and 48 Dems, or Independents that vote with Democrats. Alaska, where one of the two Republicans, Lisa Murkowski or Kelly Tshibaka, thought very expected to win, is included in the GOP total. It didn’t include Nevada, where GOP Adam Laxalt maintained a small lead over incumbent Dem. Catherine Cortez Masto as of Wednesday morning, or Arizona, where incumbent Dem. Mark Kelly led opponent Blake Masters.
Republicans will have a 50-49 edge if Nevada and Arizona continue on their current paths, with a December 6 Georgia runoff involving Democrat Raphael Warnock and Republican opponent and former NFL star Herschel Walker expected to break or seal the current 50-50 tie.
“While county officials continue to carry out the comprehensive work on counting the ballots,” Gabriel Sterling, director of operations for the Georgia Sec. of State’s office, tweeted on Wednesday.
With nearly 99% of the votes collected on Tuesday, Warnock has 49.42% of the vote and Walker had 48.52%. With 2% of the vote, Libertarian candidate Chase Oliver prevented Warnock and Walker from escaping the runoff. The outcomes set up a repeat of Jan. 5, 2021, runoff elections for both of Georgia’s Senate seats, with Democrats Warnock, who was campaigning against Kelly Loeffler to finish the term of the late Johnny Isakson, and Senator Jon Ossoff gaining both to establish the current 50-50 tie. In the Senate, Vice President Kamala Harris throws the deciding vote, granting Democrats a de facto majority.
