GOP Guaranteed at Least 50 Seats After Winning Alaska and NC -- But All Eyes on Georgia

Republicans are poised to hold at least 50 seats in the Senate next term but two run-off races in Georgia will determine who controls the chamber.

The Associated Press and other news outlets on Wednesday projected Republican Dan Sullivan to win his re-election against independent Democratic-backed candidate Al Gross.

Sullivan leads Gross by more than 50,000 votes with about 74% of ballots counted.

The race is the last statewide election to be called as officials sort through more than 150,000 absentee and provisional ballots.

The AP and other outlets also projected President Donald Trump to win the state and its three electoral votes.

Trump leads Biden by about 46,000 votes with a quarter of ballots left to count.

GOP wins NC:

The Alaska win came one day after Democrat Cal Cunningham conceded the North Carolina race to Sen. Thom Tillis shortly before media outlets called the race.

Cunningham appeared to maintain his lead in the polls despite a scandal surrounding flirty texts he sent to a woman who wasn’t his wife but ultimately fell well short of unseating the Republican.

Tillis leads Cunningham by more than 90,000 votes with 98% of ballots counted.

The presidential race still has not been called despite Trump holding a significant lead.

Biden trails by about 73,000 votes with thousands of votes left to count.

All eyes on Georgia:

Control of the Senate now hinges on both run-off races in Georgia.

Republican Kelly Loeffler will face Rev. Randy Warnock and fellow Republican incumbent David Perdue will square off against Democrat Jon Ossoff.

Warnock led the field in the state’s open election with 33% of the vote while Loeffler and Republican Doug Collins split the GOP vote with 26% and 20% respectively.

Perdue fell just short of the 50% threshold needed to win outright, leading Ossoff 49.7% to 48%. The run-off will not include Libertarian Shane Hazel, who pulled in 2.3% of the vote.

Georgia remains a Republican-leaning state even though Joe Biden appears to have won it by about 13,000 votes.

 

Related News
Comments