2020–21 United States Senate election in Georgia

The 2020–21 United States Senate election in Georgia was held on November 3, 2020, and on January 5, 2021 (as a runoff), to elect the Class II member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Georgia. Democrat Jon Ossoff narrowly defeated incumbent Republican Senator David Perdue in the runoff election, despite Perdue receiving more votes in the first round. The general election was held concurrently with the 2020 presidential election, as well as with other elections to the Senate, elections to the U . House of Representatives and various state and local elections. No candidate received a majority of the vote during the general election on November 3, so the top two finishers—Perdue (49 %) and Ossoff (47 %)—advanced to a runoff election, held on January 5, 2021. The runoff was held concurrently with the special election for Georgia's other U . Senate seat (which had also advanced to a runoff), in which Republican incumbent Kelly Loeffler lost to Democratic nominee Raphael Warnock. After the general round of elections, Republicans held 50 Senate seats and the Democratic caucus 48 (including two independents who caucus with them). As a result, the two runoffs decided control of the Senate under the incoming Biden administration. By winning both seats, Democrats took control of the chamber, with Vice President Kamala Harris's tie-breaking vote giving them an effective majority. The extraordinarily high political stakes caused the races to attract significant attention nationwide and globally. On January 6, 2021, most major news outlets projected Ossoff the winner, in the midst of the US Capitol riot. Perdue conceded the race on January 8. According to OpenSecrets, this campaign was the most expensive in U . Senate history, with over $468 million spent. Ossoff's victory, along with Warnock's, gave the Democrats control of the Senate for the first time since 2015. Ossoff and Warnock became the first Democrats to be elected to the U . Senate from Georgia since Zell Miller in a 2000 special election. Ossoff became the first Democrat elected to a full term in the Senate from Georgia since Max Cleland, who held this seat from 1997 to 2003, and the first Jewish member of the Senate from the state. Ossoff became the youngest senator since Don Nickles won in 1980, and the youngest Democrat since Joe Biden won in 1972. Georgia election officials certified Ossoff's victory on January 19, 2021; he was sworn in on January 20. Ossoff is the first Jewish senator from the Deep South since Benjamin F. Jonas of Louisiana, who was elected in 1878, and the first millennial United States senator. The two elections mark the first time since the 1994 United States Senate election in Tennessee and the concurrent special election that both Senate seats in a state have flipped from one party to the other in a single election cycle. This was also the first time the Democrats achieved this since West Virginia's 1958 Senate elections. With a margin of 1 %, this election was also the closest race of the 2020 Senate election cycle. Following his election loss, Perdue ran in the 2022 Georgia gubernatorial election but lost in the Republican primary to incumbent Brian Kemp. Perdue would then go on to be nominated as the U . ambassador to China following Donald Trump's victory in the 2024 presidential election.