Raphael Warnock defeats Kelly Loeffler for Georgia Senate seat

The senior pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church, a house of worship once helmed by Martin Luther King, is now a United States Senator as Rev. Raphael Warnock has defeated Republican incumbent Kelly Loeffler in a runoff election.

The race has been called by NBC News as well as the Decision Desk, and was first called by Dave Wasserman of the Cook Political Report.

As of right now Warnock leads 50.5% to 49.5% over Loeffler, though we won’t know the exact final tally for several days. Right now it sits at 2,213,995 for Warnock, and 2,173,420 for Loeffler. The automatic recount threshold in Georgia is 0.5% of the vote, and this race will finish well outside that range as 97% of the vote has been counted statewide. The remaining vote is overwhelmingly centered around Metro Atlanta, a stronghold of the Democratic party.

Warnock was the favorite of the two Democratic candidates, and he’ll finish with more votes than his fellow Democrat Jon Ossoff. Warnock will replace his opponent Loeffler in the Senate, as Loeffler was appointed by was appointed by Gov. Brian Kemp to finish the term of Johnny Isakson who retired due to health issues.