US Georgia Senate Election Neck-and-Neck...Will Democrats and Republicans Each Take One Seat?

98% Vote Count Shows a Tight Race
Media Outlets Abandon Winner Predictions, Saying "Judgment Difficult"

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] In the Georgia runoff election that will determine the majority party in the U.S. Senate, the Republican and Democratic candidates are each narrowly leading in one race, continuing an extremely close contest.

According to CNN, as of 11:50 PM local time on the 5th, with 98% of the votes counted in the Georgia runoff, the incumbent Republican candidate and the Democratic candidate are each slightly ahead of their opponents. Early in the counting, both Democratic candidates had a significant lead, but as the counting progressed, the lead changed hands multiple times, resulting in a very tight race.

Currently, incumbent Republican Senator David Perdue leads Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff by only 1,888 votes. Both candidates have an equal support rate of 50.0%. Separately, in the other race, Democratic candidate Raphael Warnock (50.4%) leads Republican candidate Kelly Loeffler (49.6%) by 35,132 votes.

Most of the early counted votes came from early voting, where Democrats had an advantage, but once the in-person votes began to be counted, the results flipped around the 65% counting mark. However, since the remaining areas to be counted are heavily Democratic urban centers, the possibility of a change in the winner cannot be ruled out.

Earlier exit polls also indicated an extremely close race, and no media outlet has announced a winner prediction. According to CNN, exit polls conducted by Edison Research immediately after the election showed that 49% of voters said they voted for the Democratic Party and 48% for the Republican Party. CNN stated that it is difficult to prematurely judge a winner right after the polls close and therefore did not make a winner prediction.

The Democratic Party is taking a cautious stance. CNN reported that among Democratic lawmakers, there was a message circulating not to be shaken even if early results showed a Republican landslide, as the counting starts in smaller, more conservative counties.

Georgia, which has been strongly conservative until now, has been classified as a Republican stronghold. Since 2000, no Democratic candidate has been elected as a senator in Georgia. However, in last November’s presidential election, Democratic candidate Joe Biden won, and pre-runoff polls showed Democrats leading in both seats, leading to expectations of an extremely close race. The counting is expected to conclude today, but due to the tight race, the final results may not be available for another 2 to 3 days.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.