Final US Senate seat up for grabs in Georgia runoff
Washington, Dec 6 (EFE).- Voters in the US state of Georgia headed to the polls on Tuesday for a runoff election that will determine the final makeup of the Senate, which will be Democrat-controlled regardless of the outcome.
Progressive Democrat Raphael Warnock, the incumbent, and conservative challenger Herschel Walker are facing off once again after neither won 50 percent of the vote in the Nov. 8 midterm balloting.
The Democrats currently hold a 50-49 advantage in the Senate, but even if the GOP were to pull even with their rivals Vice President Kamala Harris would be the one to cast tie-breaking votes.
According to an analysis by poll aggregator website FiveThirtyEight, Warnock held a narrow advantage of 50.2 percent to 48.2 percent in voter-preference surveys heading into Tuesday.
His opponent, a former American football star backed by ex-President Donald Trump who is outspokenly pro-life, was politically bruised in the lead-up to the Nov. 8 election when he was accused by the mother of one of his four children and by another woman of having paid for or pressured them into having abortions.
Polls were open on Tuesday from 7 am to 7 pm.
The Democrats took control of the Senate for the first time since 2014 after winning two runoff elections in Georgia early last year, with Warnock defeating Republican incumbent Kelly Loeffler and Democrat Jon Ossoff defeating Republican incumbent David Perdue to ensure a 50-50 upper house.
Former President Barack Obama campaigned for Warnock in October and once again last Thursday, reminding Democrat voters that the Senate would now be controlled by the GOP if they had stayed home last January.
The Republicans won back control of the House of Representatives last month, and thus will have the power to block President Joe Biden’s legislative agenda starting Jan. 3. EFE
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