Democrat Raphael Warnock has defeated incumbent Republican Kelly Loeffler in the Georgia Senate runoff race. His victory brings Democrats one step closer to having a majority across all three branches of government, according to WSJ data.

Warnock's victory over Loeffler has made history, making him the first black senator to represent Georgia in Washington, reports the Associated Press.

“The other day, because this is America, the 82-year-old hands that used to pick somebody else’s cotton picked her youngest son to be a United States senator,” Warnock said, “Tonight, we proved with hope, hard work and the people by our side, anything is possible."

Loeffler hasn't conceded and appeared to challenge the election results. She plans on returning to Washington D.C. to join Republican Senators in challenging President-elect Joe Biden's certification. “We’ve got some work to do here. This is a game of inches. We’re going to win this election,” Loeffler said.

With Warnock's victory secured, the focus has now shifted to Democrat John Ossoff's race against incumbent David Purdue. At this minute, Ossoff leads by a miniscule 0.40% with 98% of precincts reporting. Under Georgia law a candidate can request a recount if the margin is 0.5% or less.

On Monday President Trump travelled to Dalton, GA and held a rally on behalf of Loeffler and Purdue. He implored conservatives to go out and vote on Tuesday, “If these two [incumbents] don’t win, and if we don’t take the presidency, you have a country that will be run by Schumer, Pelosi and Biden,” Trump warned.

He went on to add, "The people of Georgia will be at the mercy of the left-wing socialists, Communists, Marxists, and that’s where it’s going. You know we don’t like to use the word Communist."

Gabriel Sterling, a Georgia election official working for the Secretary of State, commented on the election results, saying that Trump's fraud claims and infighting within the GOP played a major role in the election results.

“We need to have a unified team with a unified message looking to the future,” Sterling opined. He went on to deny the President's allegations of fraud, arguing that the evidence is scant or nonexistent.

However, the defeat of Republican incumbents cannot be attributed to low turnout. Prior to Jan. 5, over 3 million votes had already been casted through mail-ins and in-person advanced votes.

Georgia election officials have said that the total number of votes casted during the Senate runoffs exceeded the number of votes during the Presidential election, pointing to the stakes of this election.

The USA Herald will be providing ongoing coverage of the Georgia Senate runoff election.

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