Election for contested Senate seat in the US state of Georgia begins
Created: 12/06/2022, 2:30 p.m
By: Katja Thorwarth
The Democrats certainly have control of the Senate - and yet there is a lot at stake when Georgia votes on the last vacant Senate seat.
The ticker.
Midterms:
In Georgia there is a runoff between Democrats and Republicans.
It's about the last seat in the Senate.
Duel:
Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock takes on Republican Herschel Walker.
Read everything about the runoff election in our news ticker.
Washington/Atlanta – Four weeks after the mitterms, the runoff election for the last seat in the Senate has begun in the US state of Georgia.
The polling stations opened on Tuesday morning (local time).
In the election, Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock and his Republican challenger Herschel Walker are again up against each other.
Neither of the two got more than 50 percent of the votes in the first attempt in the congressional election - according to the electoral law in Georgia, a runoff election was therefore necessary.
Running for the US Senate in Georgia: Democrat Raphael Warnock (left) and Republican Herschel Walker.
© Imago/The Canadian Press
The Democrats had already secured a wafer-thin majority in the Senate in the election at the beginning of November.
You now have the chance to possibly expand this by one seat.
According to German time, the polling stations close on Wednesday.
Runoff election in Georgia: the last seat in the Senate is elected
As of now, the Democrats have 50 out of 100 seats in the Senate, giving them a razor-thin lead.
The reason is that Democratic US Vice President Kamala Harris, who is also President of the Senate, is allowed to vote in a deadlock.
That means even if Republicans win in Georgia, the Senate balance of power would be 50-50, as it has been for the past two years - and Harris would keep the Democrats a slim majority.
Should the Georgia Democrats win, they would have 51 Senate seats and no longer need Harris to tip the scales.
(ktho/dpa)