Live updates: Warnock declares victory over Loeffler, Ossoff expects win over Perdue

Precincts across Georgia are now closed and poll workers are beginning to tabulate results Tuesday’s runoff elections.

We’ll be rounding up the latest information from across the state as results come in. Check back for updates throughout the night.

2:00 a.m.: The Associated Press says Democrat Raphael Warnock has defeated incumbent Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler in one of Georgia’s two U.S. Senate runoff elections. At the time the race was called, Warnock led by roughly 36,000 votes out of about 4.4 million total votes tallied. If that margin of victory holds up, it would not be eligible for a recount request.

Democrat Jon Ossoff's bid to defeat incumbent Republican Sen. David Perdue remained too close to call early Wednesday.

1:34 a.m.: Jon Ossoff anticipates he will unseat incumbent Sen. David Perdue.

“When all the votes are counted we fully expect that Jon Ossoff will have won this election to represent Georgia in the United States Senate,” said Ossoff’s campaign manager Ellen Foster. “The outstanding vote is squarely in parts of the state where Jon’s performance has been dominant. We look forward to seeing the process through in the coming hours and moving ahead so Jon can start fighting for all Georgians in the U.S. Senate.”

Ossoff trails Perdue by about 1,300 votes. Warnock declared victory over Loeffler about an hour ago. Neither race has been called by the Associated Press.

12:40 a.m.: Raphael Warnock declared victory over incumbent Sen. Kelly Loeffler, promising to work for all Georgians and their families.

“We’re were told that we couldn’t win this election,” Warnock said in a virtual speech. “But tonight, we proved that with hope, hard work and the people by our side anything is possible.”

Loeffler, who spoke to a gathered crowd at an in-person event in Atlanta before Warnock’s remarks, did not concede. She told supporters the election was “a game of inches” and that she has a path to victory.

Warnock leads Loeffler by nearly 36,000 votes will ballots from majority-Democratic counties still being counted.

11:55 p.m.: Perdue now leads Ossoff by fewer than 2,000 votes, while Warnock maintains his lead over Loeffler with more than 98% of precincts reporting.

According to unofficial data from the Georgia Secretary of State’s office:

11:42 p.m.: Republican David Perdue’s lead over Jon Ossoff has shrunk to around 300, and Kelly Loeffler now trails Raphael Warnock after more votes from DeKalb and Chatham counties were added to the state’s totals.

According to unofficial data from the Georgia Secretary of State’s office:

154 of Georgia’s 159 counties (97%) have finished counting.

11:14 p.m. Republicans David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler currently hold narrow leads in Georgia’s twin Senate runoffs, according to unofficial data from the Georgia Secretary of State’s office.

10:53 p.m.: With all precincts in Columbus reporting, Democratic candidates have won out over Republican competitors, according to unofficial results from the Muscogee County Elections and Registration office.

Here’s the breakdown:

• Perdue, 26,542; Ossoff 44,707.
• Loeffler 26,391; Warnock 44,879.
• McDonald 26,912; Blackman 43,464.

And here’s how Columbus voters cast their ballots:

• 35,998 early in-person.
• 18,768 absentee.
• 16,617 Election Day in person.

10:10 p.m.: Republicans David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler currently lead Georgia’s twin Senate runoffs, but a majority of the state’s traditionally Democratic counties have not finished counting, according to unofficial data from the Georgia Secretary of State’s office.

124 of Georgia’s 159 counties (61%) have finished counting ballots.

With 31 precincts reporting, the majority of Macon-Bibb County voters cast ballots for Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, according to unofficial results posted by the Georgia Secretary of State’s office.

Ossoff led David Perdue 38,414 votes to 23,331 and Warnock led Kelly Loeffler 38,656 to 23,146. In the Public Service Commission runoff, Democrat Daniel Blackman received 37,324 votes to Bubba McDonald’s 23,744.

According to the Secretary of State’s office, 61,889 Bibb County residents voted, compared with 70,714 in the Nov. 3 presidential election, out of 110,077 registered voters.

9:35 p.m.: Republicans David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler currently lead Georgia’s twin Senate runoffs with more than half the counties finished counting ballots, according to unofficial data from the Georgia Secretary of State’s office.

Ninety-seven of Georgia’s 159 counties (61%) have finished counting ballots.

With just over 54,000 votes counted so far in Muscogee County, the three Democratic candidates maintained leads over their Republican rivals. 35,941 early in-person ballots and 18,464 absentee ballots were tallied by 9:13 p.m., according to initial data from the Muscogee County Elections and Registration office.

Here’s the breakdown:

• Perdue, 17,581; Ossoff 36,824.
• Loeffler 17,490; Warnock 36,933.
• McDonald 17906; Blackman 35,802.

9:00 p.m.: Republicans are eating into Democratic leads. Sixty-six Georgia counties out of 159 (41.5%) have finished counting their ballots, according to unofficial data from the Georgia Secretary of State’s office.

• U.S. Senate candidate Jon Ossoff leads Republican U.S. Sen. David Perdue, 1,230,776 votes to 1,159,286.
  
  
• U.S. Senate candidate Raphael Warnock leads Republican U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler, 1,239,404 votes to 1,150,834.
  
  
• Public Service Commission candidate Daniel Blackman is leading Republican incumbent Bubba McDonald, 1,193,170 to 1,168,225.
  
  

Republican Lt. Gov Geoff Duncan told ABC News in an interview Tuesday evening that he’s “absolutely” concerned President Trump’s false claims of election fraud would depress voter turnout.

“Too many folks in our party over the last two months have been talking about misinformation,” he said. “We’ve been outworked (and) out focused,” Duncan said of Democrat’s efforts ahead of the runoffs. “

8:35 p.m.: Both Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock have topped 1 million votes statewide in Georgia’s twin Senate runoffs.

Thirty Georgia counties have finished counting their ballots, according to unofficial data from the Georgia Secretary of State’s office.

• U.S. Senate candidate Jon Ossoff leads Republican U.S. Sen. David Perdue, 1,015,045 votes to 841,181.
  
  
• U.S. Senate candidate Raphael Warnock leads Republican U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler, 1,022,114 votes to 834,268.
  
  
• Public Service Commission candidate Daniel Blackman is leading Republican incumbent Bubba McDonald, 984,674 votes to 848,975.
  
  

With just over 32,000 votes counted so far in Muscogee County, the three Democratic candidates have a hefty lead over their Republican rivals.

14,195 early in-person ballots and 17,895 absentee ballots were tallied by 8:30 p.m., according to initial data from the Muscogee County Elections and Registration office. Here’s the breakdown:

• Perdue, 8400; Ossoff 23,636.
• Loeffler 8,352; Warnock 23,689.
• McDonald 8,615; Blackman 31,529.

8:15 p.m.: Twenty Georgia counties have finished counting their ballots, and the three Democratic candidates are maintaining their early leads, according to unofficial data from the Georgia Secretary of State’s office.

• U.S. Senate candidate Jon Ossoff leads Republican U.S. Sen. David Perdue, 636,792 votes to 571,435.
  
  
• U.S. Senate candidate Raphael Warnock leads Republican U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler, 641,060 votes to 567,289.
  
  
• Public Service Commission candidate Daniel Blackman is leading Republican incumbent Bubba McDonald, 614,923 votes to 576,677.

All Georgia polls have closed. One poll in Ware County was open until 8 p.m., said Georgia’s voting system implementation manager Gabriel Sterling in a tweet.

7:50 p.m.: Wait times at polling locations in Cherokee, Forsyth, Paulding counties in north Georgia were approaching an hour long, GPB reports.

A handful of precincts received extensions. The latest was until 7:40 p.m.

7:30 p.m.: The three Democrats in Georgia’s statewide runoffs are leading as polling closes and the first votes are tabulated:

• U.S. Senate candidate Jon Ossoff leads Republican U.S. Sen. David Perdue, 183,293 votes to 113,764.
• U.S. Senate candidate Raphael Warnock leads Republican U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler, 184,681 votes to 112,348.
• Public Service Commission candidate Daniel Blackman is leading Republican incumbent Bubba McDonald, 176,205 votes to 115,509.

One of Georgia’s 159 counties has finished counting — Webster County. Seven out of the state’s 2656 precincts have filed their vote totals, according to unofficial data from the Georgia Secretary of State.

7:00 p.m.: In-person voter turnout Tuesday was low across the state, with wait times at many polls lasting only a handful of minutes — or none at all.

Since no candidate in either of Georgia’s U.S. Senate races received more than 50%-plus one of the vote in November, both went into a runoff. Republican incumbent David Perdue is up against Democrat Jon Ossoff. In the special election, Republican incumbent Kelly Loeffler faces Democrat Raphael Warnock.

The Public Commission Service District 4 seat is also in a runoff. That race pits Republican incumbent Lauren “Bubba” McDonald against Columbus native Daniel Blackman.

Those waiting for results should expect a timeline similar to November’s General Election.

Walter Jones, spokesman for the office of Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, said there could be a delay due to the extra time it takes to count mail ballots, Reuters reported.

“We may be looking at several days,” Jones said.

As of Tuesday, more than 3 million early votes had been cast, accounting for 40% of registered voters in the state, according to the U.S. Elections Project. At least 1 million mail ballots have been accepted out of the 1.3 million ballots that were requested, comprising 17.8% of registered voters.

This story was originally published January 5, 2021 at 7:05 PM.