Democrats edge closer to Senate control

Democrat Raphael Warnock won one of Georgia's two Senate runoff elections on Wednesday, becoming the first black senator in his state's history and putting a Senate majority within the Democrats' reach.

A pastor who spent the past 15 years leading the Atlanta church where Martin Luther King Jr preached, Warnock defeated Republican incumbent Kelly Loeffler. It was a stinging rebuke of US President Donald Trump, who made one of his final trips in office to Georgia to rally his loyal base behind Loeffler and the Republican running for the other seat, David Perdue.

The focus now shifts to the second race between Perdue and Democrat Jon Ossoff. That contest was too early to call as votes were still being counted. If Ossoff wins, Democrats will have complete control of Congress, strengthening Biden's standing as he prepares to take office on Jan 20.

Warnock's victory is a symbol of a striking shift in Georgia's politics as the swelling number of diverse, college-educated voters flex their power in the heart of the Deep South. It marks the end of nearly two decades in which Democrats have been shut out of statewide office and follows Biden's victory in November, when he became the first Democratic presidential candidate to carry the state since 1992.

The critical races drew an estimated 4.5 million voters－a record for a runoff－along with nearly half a billion dollars in advertising spending since Nov 3 and Monday visits by Trump and Biden.

Democrats must win both contests to take control of the Senate. A double Democratic win would create a 50-50 split in the Senate and give Democrat Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris the tie-breaking vote after she and Biden take office. The party already has a narrow majority in the House of Representatives.

If Republicans hold even one of the two seats, they would effectively wield veto power over Biden's political and judicial appointees as well as many of his legislative initiatives in areas such as economic relief, climate change and healthcare.

Warnock, 51, acknowledged his improbable victory in a message to supporters early on Wednesday. But Loeffler refused to concede in a brief message to supporters shortly after midnight.

Loeffler, who remains a Georgia senator until the results of Tuesday's election are finalized, said she was scheduled to return to Washington on Wednesday to join a small group of senators planning to challenge Congress' vote to certify Biden's victory.

The typically routine proceeding on Wednesday would be anything but, a political confrontation unseen since the aftermath of the American Civil War as Trump mounts an effort to stay in office. The president's Republican allies in the House and the Senate plan to object to the election results, heeding supporters' plea to "fight for Trump" as he stages a rally outside the White House. It's tearing the party apart.

The longshot effort is all but certain to fail, defeated by bipartisan majorities in Congress prepared to accept the results.

Congressional vote

The joint session of Congress, required by law, was scheduled to convene at 1 pm local time under a watchful, restless nation－months after the November election, two weeks before the inauguration's traditional peaceful transfer of power and against the backdrop of a surging COVID-19 pandemic.

Georgia's other runoff election pitted Perdue, a 71-year-old former business executive who held his Senate seat until his term expired on Sunday, against Ossoff, a former congressional aide and journalist. At just 33 years old, Ossoff would be the Senate's youngest member.

Trump's claims about voter fraud in the 2020 election resonated with Republican voters in Georgia. About 7 in 10 agreed with his assertion that Biden was not the legitimately elected president, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 3,600 voters in the runoff elections.

Hundreds of supporters of Trump descended on Washington on Tuesday to cheer his claims of fraud, a day before the congressional vote to affirm Biden's victory.

Agencies and Ai Heping in New York contributed to this story.