Jon Ossof has been elected to the senate, giving the Democratic party control of the Congress and white house for the first time in over a decade.
Ossoff’s victory and that of fellow Georgia Democrat, Rev. Raphael Warnock, will allow president-elect Joe Biden the power to enact sweeping, liberal legislation, and push through cabinet nominations without Republican support. The senate party is currently split 50-50, with vice president-elect Kamala Harris breaking tie votes.
The recount of senate votes showed no evidence of voter fraud
After no Georgia US Senate candidate received 50% of the vote in November, the races turned to two runoffs with control of the Senate at the stake. As Trump refused to accept defeat, his words led Republican supporters to believe his claims that the vote was rigged. This, according to some Republican strategists, led to the loss of the Republican Party control of the senate.
“I’m obviously disappointed,” said Eric Tanenblatt, a longtime Georgia Republican strategist. “Clearly the distractions and sideshows impacted the outcome of the senate election.”
Despite three recounts, Loeffler and Perdue decided to join the President in supporting an objection to Congress’s certification of the Electoral College’s results.
Warnock and Ossof’s victory is a historic win in US history
Warnock, the senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, and Ossoff will respectively be the first Black and Jewish senators to represent Georgia.
“At this moment of crisis, as Covid-19 continues to ravage our state and our country, when hundreds of thousands have lost their lives, millions have lost livelihoods, Georgia families are having difficulty putting food on the table—fearing foreclosure or eviction, having difficulty making ends meet—let’s unite now to beat this virus and rush economic relief to the people of our state and to the American people,” Ossoff said in a speech earlier on Wednesday.