US Georgia State Senate Taken by Democrats... Securing 51 Senate Seats

Senator Raphael Warnock, a Democrat who won re-election in the state of Georgia
[Photo by AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] In the runoff election for the U.S. Georgia federal Senate seat, the final battleground of the U.S. midterm elections, Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock defeated Republican candidate Herschel Walker and secured victory.

According to NBC and AP on the 6th (local time), with 93% of the votes counted, Senator Warnock recorded 50.5% of the vote, surpassing Walker's 49.5%, confirming his election. Earlier, Georgia held its midterm election on the 8th of last month. However, although Senator Warnock led Walker by about 0.9 percentage points, his vote share was below 50%, and according to election law, the two candidates proceeded to a runoff election.

With the Georgia election results, the Democratic Party, which had secured 50 out of 100 Senate seats in last month's midterms, gained one more seat in Georgia, bringing their total to 51 seats. This secured a clear majority in the Senate by number of members alone, excluding the Vice President who holds the casting vote.

With the seat ratio between Democrats and Republicans at 51 to 49, the Joe Biden administration has secured momentum for the second half of its term. The House of Representatives is controlled by the Republicans, so from January next year, the U.S. Congress will operate with divided power between the Democrats and Republicans in both chambers for the next two years.

Just before the news of Warnock's victory was announced, President Biden told reporters, "We will win in Georgia tonight." Immediately after the election result was announced, Vice President Kamala Harris posted a congratulatory message on Twitter.

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