Sen. David Perdue’s team said he’s still confident of victory in Georgia’s Senate race, even if it means he’ll have to win a runoff election.
Mr. Perdue, a Republican, had dropped to 49.98% of the vote Thursday morning in his race with Democrat Jon Ossoff, who had 47.71%.
Under Georgia’s rules, a candidate must top 50% or the race goes to a runoff. Georgia’s other Senate race this year, a special election, is already headed for a runoff in early January and Republicans seemed resigned to see the Perdue race join it.
“David Perdue won this race in regular time and will do the same in overtime,” said Kevin McLaughlin, director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
Ben Fry, the Perdue campaign manager, said Mr. Perdue will end up with more votes than Mr. Ossoff, even if the senator drops below the 50% mark. That, the campaign said, leaves Mr. Perdue in solid shape for a runoff.
“It is clear that more Georgians believe that David Perdue’s positive vision for the future direction of our country is better than Chuck Schumer’s radical, socialist agenda,” Mr. Fry said. “There’s only one candidate in this race who has ever lost a runoff, and it isn’t David Perdue.”
That was a reference to Mr. Ossoff’s 2017 run for a House seat, where he failed to crack the 50% mark on Election Day, then lost a runoff.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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