Democrats moved a major step closer to gaining control of the U.S. Senate on Wednesday morning as Georgia voters elected the Rev. Raphael Warnock, the pastor at the storied Ebenezer Baptist Church, in a hard-fought runoff contest that became roiled by President Donald Trump’s false claims of voter fraud in the state.
Warnock’s victory over the Republican incumbent, Kelly Loeffler, represented a landmark breakthrough for African Americans in politics as well as for Georgia: He became the first Black Democrat elected to the Senate from the South.
For Democrats to take the Senate, which is crucial to enacting President-elect Joe Biden’s first-term agenda, they also need to win Georgia’s other Senate runoff held Tuesday. The votes were still being counted in that race between the Republican candidate, David Perdue, and his Democratic rival, Jon Ossoff.