Democrat Raphael Warnock defeated Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R) in the Georgia Senate runoffs, giving Democrats an additional seat in the upper chamber.

Raphael Warnock was projected to have defeated Sen. Kelly LoefflerKelly LoefflerTrump’s final push for Georgia runoff dominated by personal grievancesTrump at Georgia rally says he hopes Pence ‘comes through for us’ Raffensperger demands Perdue apologize after wife got death threats following November call for resignationMORE (R) in their Senate runoff in Georgia, giving Democrats an additional seat in the upper chamber.
NBC News and CBS News called the race for Warnock shortly before 2 a.m. ET on Wednesday.
Neither Loeffler nor Warnock reached the 50 percent threshold needed to win the general election in November, sending the race into a runoff. Warnock, who benefited from then-Rep. Doug CollinsDouglas (Doug) Allen CollinsWarnock says he needs to win ‘by comfortable margin’ because ‘funny things go on’The Memo: 48 hours that will shape start of Biden presidencyTrump, Biden face new head-to-head contest in GeorgiaMORE (R-Ga.) running in the nonpartisan blanket primary alongside Loeffler, garnered roughly 33 percent of the vote at that time. Loeffler brought in around 26 percent.
However, with the Republican side consolidated, polls showed a tight race leading up to Jan. 5. The Real Clear Politics polling average showed Warnock leading by just 1.8 percentage points on the Monday before the runoff.
Warnock criticized Loeffler over her initial lack of support for the $2,000 stimulus checks for Congress’s coronavirus relief package in the final weeks of the campaign.
“Billionaire @KLoeffler thinks $600 will cover your rent, groceries, and hospital bills,” Warnock tweeted last month.
Loeffler eventually came out in support of the checks after Trump hit Congress for including $600 stimulus checks instead of $2,000. But Warnock still hit Loeffler for not pushing hard enough for a vote on the checks.
“Instead of flying back to Washington, D.C. and insisting that they put up the stimulus [bill] for a vote, Kelly Loeffler was so busy trying to keep her job that she’s not doing her job,” Warnock said at a rally on Riverdale, Ga., on Monday.