ATLANTA – The opening emcee at Georgia incumbent Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock’s election night party on Tuesday was upbeat, as were Mr Warnock’s supporters: a diverse crowd full of union leaders, students from historically black colleges, finely dressed seniors and professionals in suits.
“We did not come here for a run-off, we came here for victory. This is a victory party,” said the speaker, to loud cheers and applause.
But their hope that Mr Warnock would decisively defeat his Republican opponent Herschel Walker, averting the need for a state-mandated run-off election in December, did not materialise.
Instead, the two candidates were neck and neck throughout Tuesday night, the small gap between them widening or narrowing as more counties reported their results.
At times, the difference narrowed to fewer than 1,000 votes, and the race remained too close to call at the time of writing, at about 2am on Wednesday in Georgia.
The state’s hotly contested Senate race was one of the most closely watched ones in Tuesday’s midterm elections, given its ability to determine which party gets control of the Senate.
But it was far from the only tight race. In Pennsylvania, Democrat John Fetterman maintained a slim lead over his Republican opponent Mehmet Oz in their race for the Senate seat, but the contest was close throughout.
In Arizona, the Senate race between Democrat Mark Kelly and Republican Blake Masters was also too close to call.
The mood started off ebullient at Mr Warnock’s party in a hotel ballroom in downtown Atlanta, capital of Georgia, with supporters frequently breaking into dancing and cheers whenever television screens showed early positive results for Mr Warnock.
But the celebration turned a little more muted as the night wore on, particularly after Georgia Republican Governor Brian Kemp’s decisive victory over Democrat candidate Stacey Abrams was announced.
Standing outside the ballroom, Mr Tyron Roberts, 53, a Warnock supporter from Savannah, Georgia, checked his phone repeatedly.
“I’m following the polls closely. They seem to be a little bit closer than we like at this time,” he told The Straits Times.
“We’re just praying and paying attention and being patient. But we hope that things will turn out the way we need them to. I was not expecting it to be this close,” he said.
He acknowledged the possibility of a run-off election in December, given that neither Mr Warnock nor Mr Walker seemed to be securing more than 50 per cent of the vote required under Georgia law to win the seat. Libertarian Party candidate Chase Oliver, a third candidate in the race, has taken about 2.1 per cent of the votes.
If no candidate secures a simple majority, the top two candidates will contend again in a run-off in four weeks, on Dec 6.
Said Mr Roberts: “If it goes to a run-off, that just means we have several more weeks of campaigning, but we’d have to hit the ground running, put boots to the ground, and move forward. We’ll hope for the best.”
