Senator-elect Warnock receives 1st dose of COVID-19 vaccine lmtonline.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from lmtonline.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Warnock and Ossoff victories end GOP control of the Senate
Translated Friday 8 January 2021
Perhaps the sweetest element of that victory is that it was the work of a ten-year-long movement led by Stacey Abrams and many other Black women in Georgia that resulted in making Raphael Warnock the first-ever African American to be sent by Georgians to the U.S. Senate.
Jon Ossoff, left, and Raphael Warnock wave to the crowd during a campaign rally in Augusta, Ga., Monday, Jan. 4, 2021. Democrats Ossoff and Warnock challenged incumbent Republican Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler in a runoff election on Jan. 5. | Michael Holahan/The Augusta Chronicle via AP
VERIFY: While there s precedent for determining a majority leader in a 50-50 Senate, there aren t official rules
Last time the Senate was split, the party of the Vice President was awarded the majority leader under a powersharing agreement. Author: VERIFY, Terry Spry Jr. Published: 8:24 PM EST January 6, 2021 Updated: 8:24 PM EST January 6, 2021
Currently, both Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, both Democrats, lead in the two Senate runoffs held in Georgia earlier this week. If the results hold without massive shifts from recounts, both will win and put the Senate at 50-50.
In that case, the Vice President will get the tiebreaking vote. But Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has shown over the last few years that the majority leader has a lot of say in what gets put to a vote in the Senate in the first place.