Raphael Warnock declares victory in Georgia Senate runoff

Sen. Raphael Warnock defeated Sen. Kelly Loeffler Tuesday in his Georgia runoff race, putting Democrats a step away from controlling the U.S. Senate.

Democrat Jon Ossoff’s campaign, meanwhile, predicted he was on his way to a win - a prediction that, if true, would give President-elect Joseph R. Biden more legislative wiggle room in Washington and leave the party faithful across the country elated.

Mr. Warnock was declared the winner in his race Wednesday morning, hours after the polls closed in Georgia.

“We were told that we couldn’t win this election,” Mr. Warnock said. “But tonight we proved that with hope, hard work and the people by our side, anything is possible.”

With 97% of the estimated votes counted, Mr. Warnock led Ms. Loeffler by a 50.46% to 49.45% margin.

Mr. Ossoff, meanwhile, led Mr. Perdue by a 50.04% to 49.96% margin.

“When all the votes are counted we fully expect that Jon Ossoff will have won this election to represent Georgia in the United States Senate,” said Ossoff campaign manager Ellen Foster. “The outstanding vote is squarely in parts of the state where Jon’s performance has been dominant.”

“We look forward to seeing the process through in the coming hours and moving ahead so Jon can start fighting for all Georgians in the U.S. Senate,” she said.