Senator Raphael Warnock has won reelection in Georgia, giving the Democrats a 51-49 majority in the United States Senate.
Gatekeepers News reports that Warnock defeated first-time candidate Herschel Walker, whose campaign was beset by allegations that he paid two women to have abortions.
Warnock finished ahead of Walker in the election on November 8, but fell short of the majority needed to avoid a runoff. Former President Barack Obama, who had campaigned for Warnock earlier in the race, returned to Georgia during the runoff to urge voters to come back to the polls.
The outcome also reinforces a disappointing year for Republicans, who had hoped for a “red wave” that would give them control of both houses of Congress. The Republicans did take control of the House of Representatives by a narrow margin.
Georgia, until recently a solidly red state, is now set to be represented by two Democrats in the Senate for at least four more years.
Warnock first won his seat during a special runoff election in early 2021, defeating the previous incumbent Kelly Loeffler by just under 100,000 votes.
