Democrat Jon Ossoff has defeated incumbent Republican Sen. David Perdue in the Georgia Senate runoff to hand control of the upper chamber to Democrats.
“It is with humility that I thank the people of Georgia for electing me to serve you in the United States Senate. Thank you for the confidence and trust that you have placed in me,” Ossoff said Wednesday. “Let’s unite now to beat this virus and rush economic relief to the people of our state, and to the American people.”
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“Everybody who cast your ballot, everybody who put your faith and confidence in our democracy’s capacity to deliver the representation that we deserve — whether you were for me, or against me — I’ll be for you in the U.S. Senate,” Ossoff said. “I will serve all the people of the state.”
Ossoff is the first Jewish senator from Georgia and will also be the youngest sitting U.S. senator at age 33.
His victory comes along with the historic win of Raphael Warnock, who will take office as the state’s first Black senator. They are the first Democrats to win Senate seats in Georgia since 2000, according to NPR.
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Ossoff received 50.3 percent of the vote to Perdue’s 49.7. According to Georgia law, if two candidates are within 0.5 percentage points of each other, either one can request a recount. Ossoff winning margin is 0.6% .
Sen. Perdue, like Sen. Kelly Loeffler has not conceded the race.
Warnock is up for re-election in 2022, but Ossoff has won a full six year term in the Senate.
