BREAKING: Raphael Warnock retains Georgia Senate seat

Democrats were already guaranteed a Senate majority, but the contest determined that the party has a 51-49 advantage as opposed to the 50-50 edge with Vice President Kamala Harris’ tiebreaking vote which has been the case since 2021. As a result, the Democrats no longer have to negotiate a power-sharing deal with Republicans and won’t have to rely on Harris as a tie-breaker.

In 2021, runoff victories by Warnock and fellow Georgia Democrat Jon Ossoff to serve out the remainder of GOP Sen. Johnny Isakson’s term gave Democrats control of the Senate for the first two years of President Joe Biden’s term in the White House.

In last month’s general election, Walker garnered 48.5 percent to Warnock’s 49.5 percent of the vote. With neither candidate clearing the 50 percent threshold needed to declare victory at the time and the race advanced to a runoff.

The state is on track for an even better turnout than the November midterm and the 2020 election despite Democrats including Warnock claiming that new election laws would depress turnout and suppress voter turnout. Voting reportedly went smoothly on Tuesday despite cold and rainy conditions in some parts of the state.

Spending on the campaigns approached $400 million by Tuesday and an estimated 1.8 million voters had already cast their ballots in the state’s early voting period that concluded on Friday, Dec. 2.