Democrats take the Senate with Georgia wins

Democrat Jon Ossoff on Wednesday beat Republican incumbent David Perdue in one of Georgia’s two Senate runoffs, securing his party’s control of the Senate and with it, the power to advance President-elect Joe Biden's agenda.

Edison Research projected the victory Wednesday afternoon after fellow Democrat Rev. Raphael Warnock beat Republican incumbent Kelly Loeffler.

The two wins are historic.

At 33, Ossoff will become the youngest member of the Senate.

While Warnock, a baptist preacher at Martin Luther King Jr.'s former church in Atlanta, will become Georgia's first Black senator.

He spoke to CBS This Morning about his victory.

"That I am serving in the United States Senate in a few days, pushes against the grain of so many expectations. But this is America and I want some young person watching this to know anything is possible."

Wednesday's results amount to a final defeat for outgoing President Donald Trump, who became the first U.S. president since 1932 to lose the White House and both chambers of Congress in a single term.

His ongoing attempts to overturn his loss in the November election overshadowed the runoffs.

On Saturday, he tried to pressure Georgia’s secretary of state, a fellow Republican, to "find" votes to reverse Biden's victory, arguing without evidence that fraud cost him the election.

Asked early Wednesday who's to blame for Republican performance in Georgia, state election official Gabriel Sterling, a Republican, laid the blame on Trump.

"If you look over the last two months, the President of the United States spent more time attacking Governor Kemp and Secretary Raffensperger than he did Rafael Warnock and Ossoff."

The wins split the Senate 50-50, with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris's tie-breaking vote giving Democrats control of the chamber.

It's the first time in a decade that Democrats control both chambers and the White House, dramatically shifting the balance of power in Washington.