Believe it or not the Georgia runoff has come and gone. This may be hard to believe but it’s true. The Election was called Wednesday evening (1/6/21). The reason it hasn’t been a big media presence is because of the attack on the capitol, which happened the same day. Even on our podcast we planned about talking about the Georgia runoff, but we had to create a new show for the events that happened Wednesday.
The Georgia runoff was a big deal because it would determine who controlled the senate. Both democrats needed to win to take control of the senate. This is exactly what happened: Jon Ossoff won along with Raphael Warnock. As a result of this, the senate is divided 50–50, so the determining factor in the event of a tie would be Vice President Elect Kamala Harris’ vote. This was a record-breaking election, with most of the country watching it. There was a total of $443,210,038.26 raised for the campaign.
Jon Ossoff defeated David Perdue, receiving a total of 2,262,523 votes. Senator Ossoff is a former film producer and an investigation journalist. On his campaign website he says the main reason he ran was to “ensure every Georgian has great health care, to deliver historic investments in clean energy and infrastructure, to rebuild this economy so working families and small businesses thrive, and to root out corruption so government serves the people — not private interests with legions of lobbyists.” He has vowed to make healthcare and protecting Social security his main priority.
The other elected candidate is Raphael Warnock, who beat candidate Kelly Loeffler. He received a total of 2,281,671 votes. Senator Warnock is a pastor and now a Georgia senator. Senator Warnock made history in more ways than one. he became the first Black U.S. Senator elected from Georgia, the first Black Democratic U.S. Senator elected in the South and, when he’s sworn in, he’ll become just the 11th Black senator elected in U.S. history. On his campaign website he says he “will bring to Washington the concerns of struggling Georgia families who wonder why no one is looking out for them. He will focus on fighting for quality, affordable health care, for the dignity of working people who are paid too little as our government works more for Wall Street, and to make sure every voice is heard.”
The election will be certified no later than January 22nd, 2021. Even though David Perdue and Kelly Oeffler conceded, the election won’t be certified until all 159 counties and the secretary of state finalize the vote count. Once the certification process is completed, they can be sworn in and get to work.
