GA Senate Elections: Warnock, Loeffler In Runoff; Perdue Leads

Updated 2:23 p.m.

GEORGIA — Both of Georgia's U.S. Senate seats were on the ballot Nov. 3, and could affect whether the Republican party retains control of the chamber. As expected, Sen. Kelly Loeffler will head to a January runoff election, where she will face Democrat Raphael Warnock.

In the other Senate race, Sen. David Perdue has a large lead over Democrat Jon Ossoff, although the race had not been called as of 10:38 a.m.

Latest Count for Both Senate Races

All but one of the 159 precincts have reported their results. As of 2:23 p.m., Warnock is leading with 32.09 percent (or 1,500,740 votes) against Loeffler with 26.37 percent (or 1,232,940 votes), according to unofficial early election results.

Congratulations to @Electdavidscott, U.S. Representative for Georgia's 13th district! #gapol pic.twitter.com/dB07ufyKlq
— Georgia Democrats (@GeorgiaDemocrat) November 4, 2020

Perdue is leading at 50.63 percent (or with 2,386,083 votes) to Ossoff's 47.07 percent (or 2,218,406).

Sen. Kelly Loeffler vs. Rep. Doug Collins vs. Raphael Warnock
Loeffler — who refers to herself as a "100 percent Trump voting record" — was in a crowded race for her first full term after she was appointed by Gov. Brian Kemp in January.

Since none of the candidates received 50 percent of the vote, the race will go to a January runoff between Loeffler and Warnock, senior pastor at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.

Late Tuesday, Rep. Doug Collins, a Republican, dropped out of the race and endorsed Loeffler.

I just called @kloeffler and congratulated her on making the runoff. She has my support and endorsement. I look forward to all Republicans coming together. Raphael Warnock would be a disaster for Georgia and America.
— Doug Collins (Text DOUG to 87123) (@CollinsforGA) November 4, 2020

Democrats targeted vulnerable GOP senators nationwide in hopes of cracking Sen. Mitch McConnell's hold on the Senate and curbing President Donald Trump's ability to appoint conservative federal judges.

The Republicans have held a 53-47 seat majority in the U.S. Senate since 2014.

Twelve GOP senators have competitive races Tuesday, Fox News reports, while only two Democrats are in jeopardy. Democrats are most likely to oust incumbent Sens. Cory Gardner in Colorado, Martha McSally in Arizona, Thom Tillis in North Carolina, and Susan Collins in Maine.

Return to Patch for the latest vote tally. Subscribe to free News Alerts for election results.

Sen. David Perdue vs. Jon Ossoff

Sen. David Perdue appeared with Trump on Sunday, instead of attending the last scheduled Senate debate. Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff's attacks against Perdue during Wednesday's debate went viral, and Perdue backed out of the final debate the next day.

"It's not just that you're a crook, Senator," Ossoff said, referring to Perdue's controversial stock trades (the senator has denied wrongdoing, saying that all transactions are handled by a third-party investment adviser). "It's that you're attacking the health of the people that you represent."

Ossoff denounced Perdue for voting four times to allow health insurance companies to forgo coverage of pre-existing conditions like asthma.

Perdue accused Ossoff of being a "rubber stamp" for liberals' wishes and of hiding his true "radical socialist agenda."

In false ads that have deluged Georgia TV markets, Perdue accused Ossoff of wanting to defund the police and said the Democrat receives support from the Communist Party USA. Ossoff has said he does not want to defund the police and the claim about the Communist Party USA is "flatly false," the Associated Press has previously reported.

Loeffler drew scrutiny last week when she said she is "not familiar" with President Donald Trump's widely reported comments on "Access Hollywood" boasting about sexually assaulting women that came to light during the 2016 campaign.

The president's comments resurfaced as Loeffler said in an interview on Wednesday she doesn't disagree with Trump on any issue. When a reporter then asked if she disagreed with Trump's comments about grabbing women, Loeffler only said she agreed with Trump's approach "since Day One to put America First."

When pressed about the infamous tapes, Loeffler said, "I'm not familiar with that."

Marjorie Taylor Greene, the presumptive winner of a U.S. Congressional seat on Tuesday, has endorsed Loeffler.

Loeffler cited her opposition to abortion and her support of 2nd Amendment rights as other traits she shared with Greene. "And just like Marjorie, I've taken on the radical left, cancel culture and fake news media — and won," Loeffler said.

Over the summer, Georgia Republicans distanced themselves from Greene after Politico discovered Facebook videos showing her expressing Islamophobic and anti-Semitic opinions. Still, Greene handily won the Republican nomination in an August runoff to represent Georgia's 14th Congressional District.

Trump confidant Roger Stone will campaign with Collin in Gwinnett County on Monday in an effort to boost conservative support.

Stone in a video announcing the campaign stop Monday praised Collins as a "solid conservative who will stand up to the deep state," The Hill reported.

"We must defeat the very same establishment forces that tried to stop President Donald Trump's election and then tried to ruin it. We need men like Doug Collins," Stone said. "Let's make America great again by putting Doug Collins in the U.S. Senate and Donald Trump back in the White House."

Warnock, the senior pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta which was once led by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., brings a voice to civil rights discussions.

His campaign ads tell his story of overcoming poverty from a childhood in a Savannah housing project. He said children there today "have it harder now than I did back then. That's got to change."

Warnock, a progressive Democrat, supports Medicaid expansion under Obamacare and was arrested in Washington for protesting proposed budget cuts to social services, The New York Times reports. He supports abortion rights and gay marriage.