ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) — Control of the U.S. Senate is in the hands of two runoff races in Georgia.
“In the general election in November, neither of the two Georgia races had one candidate get over 50 percent,” said Chad Israelson, KTTC political analyst. “So the way that Georgia’s election process works is that it goes to a runoff election for the top two candidates.”
The battle for these seats will determine which party will run the Senate for the next two years.
“Right now the Senate is 50 Republicans and 48 Democrats. If the Democrats win both of the races tomorrow. We have a 50/50 tie in the Senate. If Republicans win only one of those, then they will have the majority.”
The candidates are Democratic contender, Jon Ossof, against Republican Sen. David Perdue.
The other race has Democratic contender Raphael Warnock, against Republican Sen. Kelley Loeffler.
If the two Democratic candidates win and votes in the Senate come down to a 50/50 split, then the vice president would break the tie.
“If all Democrats vote one way and all Republicans vote the other. They don’t have to. It doesn’t mean that they would, but just the way the political atmosphere is these days we could expect to see it. And it also gives the Democrats an ace in the hole,” Israelson said.
That’s why there’s so much national attention on these races.
President Trump even rallied in Georgia Monday night in support of the two Republican candidates.
As for the results on election night?
“Tight, very tight. There’s no reason to believe that they won’t be both very close,” Israelson said.
