Rev. Raphael Warnock is projected to beat Republican incumbent Kelly Loeffler to become the first Black U.S. Senator from Georgia following an intense runoff campaign and close election Tuesday night. Warnock’s win pushed Democrats closer to possibly gaining control of the Senate pending results from the state’s other Senate runoff election between Democrat Jon Ossoff and incumbent David Perdue.

Both Senate runoff races were neck-and-neck with the Democrats and Republicans seemingly swapping leads each time a new county and predict reported its counted ballots.

After all of the Republican-led controversy over the 2020 elections results — in particular, those in Georgia — it was noteworthy that there were no reports of any voting irregularities on Tuesday. Donald Trump and a dwindling group of his supporters have maintained without proof that he was the victim of election fraud.

Voting rights champion Stacey Abrams, who fell victim to voter suppression during her failed gubernatorial campaign in the 2018 midterm elections told CNN that she has cautious confidence that the runoff races would be absent of any comparable issues.

“I think we continue to make progress,” Abrams said. “Now, let’s be clear, we have not fully eliminated voter suppression in Georgia or across the country, but we have made dramatic strides, from even June and certainly 2018.”

DeKalb County, a Democratic stronghold, has reportedly returned the largest number of ballots. More than 170,000 early in-person votes in DeKalb had reportedly not been counted as of late Tuesday night.

There were expected to be about 3,000 absentee ballots along with about half of the estimated 60,000 in-person Election Day votes that will still need to be counted Wednesday, meaning that the elections are not likely to be fully decided by Tuesday night.

There is plenty at stake with the Senate runoff elections.

Underscoring the urgency of the elections, Democrats will not be able to have as much power in the Senate if their candidates lose Tuesday. If they win, it would give Democrats as many Senators as Republicans, allowing Vice President Kamala Harris to cast the tie-breaking vote.

It could literally mean the difference between another round of [perhaps larger] stimulus checks after citizens witnessed a Republican-led Congress drag its feet for months with the current deal that has been decried as not being nearly enough.

The campaigning leading up to the election was plagued by misinformation and threats of violence — two forms of voter suppression — including physical harm against voters and poll workers alike.

The Senate runoffs, like Georgia’s general election, were largely expected to be decided by Black voters. Exit polling from November suggested there was an opportunity for even more Black voters to participate, something that would favor Democrats.

In addition, the number of absentee ballots requested — more than a million — could also bode well for Democrats.

This is a developing story that will be updated as additional information becomes available.

SEE ALSO:

What’s At Stake In Georgia’s Senate Runoffs

NAACP Legal Defense Fund Responds To Trump’s ‘Last Ditch-Attempt’ To Disenfranchise Black Georgia Voters

[ione_media_gallery id=”4043506″ overlay=”true”]