On Wednesday, Democrat Raphael Warnock won one of Georgia’s two Senate renals. Early in the morning, the second race between Republican David Perdue and Democrat Jon Ossoff was still too close. Yahoo Finance reporter Jessica Smith announces the latest news from the country’s capital.
Video transcription
MYLES ABROAD: Let’s look straight at what’s going on in Georgia right now. The Jessica Smith of Yahoo Finance joins us closely from Washington, DC, with the latest, Jess, on what we know while we’re ready for the trading session.
JESSICA SMITH: Yes. We’re still waiting for some results from Georgia this morning. But with the victory of Raphael Warnock, Democrats are getting closer to Senate control.
One race is still too close to call. This is the race between Jon Ossoff and David Perdue. The remaining vote appears to come from largely Democratic provinces. And Ossoff currently leads with about 16,000 votes.
He is full of confidence. In a new video this morning, he thanked Georgia for sending him to the Senate. Let’s see.
JON OSSOFF: This campaign was about health and work, and justice for the people of this state, for all the people of this state. And that will be my guiding principles if I serve this state in the U.S. Senate.
JESSICA SMITH: Senator Chuck Schumer also declared a bit of an early victory here, saying it is a new day celebrating a Democratic Senate.
But the Purdue team still holds out hope. In a statement, he called for time and transparency. He added: “We will mobilize every available resource and exhaust every legal system to ensure that all legitimate votes are properly counted. We believe that Senator Perdue will ultimately win.”
The Associated Press has now named all the other races in Georgia. This is Raphael Warnock versus Kelly Loeffler. Warnock defeated Loeffler by more than 53,000 votes. And he’s going to be Georgia’s first black senator. Here’s what he had to say overnight when it became clear he was winning.
RAPHAEL WARNOCK: We were told we could not win this election. But tonight we proved that everything is possible with hope, hard work and the people by our side.
JESSICA SMITH: Loeffler has not yet conceded. She said yesterday there was still work to be done. She returned to DC today to protest the certification of Biden’s victory.
But if Ossoff maintains his lead today, it means Democrats will control the Senate because of the casting vote of Kamala Harris, vice-president-elect. So Biden would enter the White House with a Democratic Congress, just like President Obama, but Biden’s majority would be very, very narrow. Myles.
MYLES ABROAD: Well, Jess, we’re 13 days, if my math is right, away from the president – the next president is sworn in and the next congress sits. Presumably, it sounds like both Purdue and Loeffler are going to explore their legal options.
But is there a chance it will continue after January 19th? What is the exact timeline here to get the matter right? Because as you mentioned, today we do, DC, the election certification. We also have all these protests out there, because – I do not know what – today is the day of the coup or whatever, according to QAnon or something. So I mean, what’s the status of it all if we’re trying to shut it down?
JESSICA SMITH: Well, it might take a while, especially the Ossoff race. If he does hold his lead, but it’s still within half a percentage point, the campaign could ask for a retelling. So that it can drag things. In addition, you must approve the process to validate these votes.
It may therefore take a while before the new senators are actually sworn in. The timeline is not exactly clear. And again, these would mean that you have to spend for these processes. At least for now, the Ossoff race is in that zone. But it may be more as if January 23 is a date I see, which may be the earliest in which they would be sworn in. But again, everything is very fluid.
MYLES ABROAD: Good. Yahoo Finance’s Jessica Smith with the latest from DC.