Senate control hangs in the balance

Under Georgia law, statewide races in which no candidate earns more than 50 percent of the vote automatically go to a runoff election. Incumbent GOP Sen. David Perdue has consistently led his challenger, Jon Ossoff, but his share of the votes dropped to 49.8 percent as of Saturday morning. Ossoff, a journalist who ran slightly ahead of Perdue in pre-election polls, seemed to take a Jan. 5 rematch for granted in a fundraising tweet. GOP Sen. Kelly Loeffler and Democrat Raphael Warnock are already set for a runoff for the state’s other seat after an open primary on Tuesday.

Why are these races important? The Associated Press projects the two sides in the Senate have locked up 48 seats each. Republican Sens. Dan Sullivan and Thom Tillis are leading in Alaska and North Carolina, respectively, and victories in those states would give Republicans 50 seats. The Democrats would get to 50 seats if they win both Georgia races and would then take control of the chamber if they capture the vice presidency. (The vice president breaks ties in the Senate.)

Dig deeper: Read my report in The Stew on how the presidential race stands in swing states.

Editor’s note: WORLD has updated this report since its initial posting.