Ga. Senate races too close to call; Democrats lead in Cobb

Georgia Senate runoff election day

Real-time updated results

UPDATED, 11:55 P.M.

With 100 percent of Cobb’s election-day voting reported, Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock received 55 and 56 percent of the county vote, respectively.

Those tallies were added to a statewide total that remains too close to call, with substantial absentee voting to be counted, especially in Democratic-heavy metro Atlanta.

As of now, Republican Sen. David Perdue holds a lead over Ossoff of less than 2,000 votes across Georgia, while Warnock leads Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler by a little more than 35,000 votes.

That’s with 98 percent of election-day, early voting and early absentee votes counted.

Some national media outlets have called the latter election for Warnock, but have not made any such calls on the other.

In East Cobb, the Republican candidates were leading in most precincts, after the Democrats were head early based on strong absentee ballot results.

GOP voters flipped the results with strong turnout on election day, as well as in-person early voting.

Absentee voting will continue into Wednesday in Cobb County. Final results are expected to be announced next week.

UPDATED, 10:20 P.M.:

Perdue and Loeffler hold slight leads statewide, but Ossoff and Warnock lead in Cobb with 55-56 percent of the vote and 44 percent of the votes counted. In East Cobb, the precincts are roughly split for now, and many of them are very close.

The rest of metro Atlanta, like Cobb, has not fully reported, and they strongly favor the Democrats: Gwinnett 60 percent; Fulton 72 percent and DeKalb 80 percent of the vote for the time being.

Across the state, 80 percent of the vote is in, including nearly 130 of Georgia’s 159 counties.

UPDATED, 8:30 P.M.:

With 16 percent of the statewide vote reporting, all three Democrats on the runoff ballot—Ossoff, Warnock and Blackman—lead the Republican incumbents with between 53 and 55 percent of the vote.

Only 30 counties out of 159 and 266 precincts out of 2,656 have fully reported.

Initial results from Cobb County have the Democratic candidates with 65-66 percent, but those are absentee ballots only.

You can also check precinct totals for each of the three races.

ORIGINAL POST, 7:01 P.M.:

The polls have closed in Georgia, and the counting has begun for the runoffs for both U.S. Senate seats and a seat on the Georgia Public Service Commission.

Republican Sen. David Perdue is facing Democrat Jon Ossoff for a six-year term in the U.S. Senate.

Kelly Loeffler, a Republican appointed in 2020 by Gov. Brian Kemp, is being challenged by Democrat Raphael Warnock in a race to fill the final two years of former Sen. Johnny Isakson’s term.

Daniel Blackman is aiming to become the only Democrat on the Georgia PSC in a runoff against longtime Republican incumbent Bubba McDonald.

Voters who were in line by 7 p.m. Tuesday will be able to vote. Absentee ballots must have been received by Cobb Elections—including at designated drop boxes—by 7 p.m.

According to a message from Cobb County Government late Tuesday afternoon, “No major issues or lines were reported today. Some lines formed before the precincts opened, and there were some shorter lines during the lunch hour, but most voters reported little or no waiting.”

Absentee ballots are being processed at the Jim R. Miller Park Event Center, and that work is expected to continue into Wednesday.

The first returns have come in—a combination of early, absentee and election-day voting—and Ossoff leads Perdue 53-46 percent. Perdue has more early and election-day votes, while Ossoff easily has more absentee votes.

Perdue leads in around 30 mostly rural counties, while Ossoff leads in four.

The other senate runoff has similar results, with Warnock leading Loeffler 54-46 percent.

East Cobb News will update this post all evening and into early Wednesday. Certification of results is not expected until next week.

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