Perdue falls below 50% of vote vs. Ossoff. Will there be a second GA Senate runoff?
Incumbent Republican Sen. David Perdue has fallen just below the 50% vote threshold to win reelection outright against Democrat challenger Jon Ossoff, and both campaigns have addressed a potential January runoff.
As of noon Thursday, Perdue has 49.99% of the total votes counted, with Ossoff trailing at 47.7%. Libertarian candidate Shane Hazel has 2.31% of the vote.
Perdue’s election night lead dwindled in the following days as absentee ballots in heavily Democratic areas were counted by county election officials. More than 61,000 absentee ballots remain uncounted as of Thursday morning, with nearly 46% come from Fulton and Chatham counties. Those tallies don’t include overseas or provisional ballots.
Ossoff currently trails by nearly 112,000 votes, though the number of outstanding ballots and vote tallies may change as counties continue to count.
Perdue confident of re-election
Perdue’s campaign manager Ben Fry said Perdue would be reelected to Senate, even if the race went to a runoff.
“Perdue will finish this election in first place with substantially more votes than his Democrat opponent,” Fry said in a statement. “Currently, Perdue’s lead is double the margin of defeat that Stacey Abrams faced for Governor just two years ago. If overtime is required when all of the votes have been counted, we’re ready, and we will win.”
Ossoff campaign predicts runoff
Ossoff’s campaign manager, Ellen Foster, said Perdue is “clearly on track” to miss the 50% threshold.
“The votes are still being counted, but we are confident that Jon Ossoff’s historic performance in Georgia has forced Senator David Perdue to continue defending his indefensible record of unemployment, disease, and corruption. When a runoff is called and held in January, Georgians are going to send Jon to the Senate to defend their health care and put the interests of working families and small businesses ahead of corporate lobbyists.”
Perdue, 70, is Georgia’s senior senator and has served since 2015. Ossoff, 33, is an investigative journalist who previously ran in the 2017 special election in Georgia’s 6th congressional district. Ossoff lost the special election to Karen Handel.
If Perdue fails to meet the 50% threshold, the runoff election would be held Jan. 5. Georgia’s other U.S. Senate race will also be on the January ballot, with Democrat challenger Raphael Warnock facing Republican incumbent Kelly Loeffler. Democrats hoped to gain a narrow advantage in the Senate, but would likely need to win both runoff elections in order to secure an even split with Republicans.
This story was originally published November 5, 2020 at 12:43 PM with the headline "Perdue falls below 50% of vote vs. Ossoff. Will there be a second GA Senate runoff?."