Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock win vital Senate races to give Joe Biden iron grip on power
Joe Biden has been handed the keys to the kingdom by two Senators-elect in Georgia. One of them is a young man with very special ties to Australia.
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Democrats have taken control of the US Senate, with millions of voters in two run-off races in Georgia delivering another rebuke to President Donald Trump.
Two months after Joe Biden won the White House and Democrats retained the House of Representatives, Republicans suffered the devastating loss of the Senate following one of the richest campaigns in history.
And it was a young man, Jon Ossoff, 33, with an Australian-born and bred mother who won the Senate race that handed the keys to the kingdom to Joe Biden.
Mr Ossoff’s mum, Heather Fenton, who was born and raised in Sydney, moved to the US when she was 23.
The race was called on Wednesday afternoon local time for Mr Ossoff, over incumbent Republican candidate David Purdue.
In the other tight senate contest in Georgia, fellow Democrat challenger Reverend Raphael Warnock beat Republican Kelly Loeffler.
Senator-elect Warnock, 51, is a pastor who has for the past 15 years led the Atlanta church where the late Martin Luther King Jr preached.
He becomes the first black senator from the traditionally pro-Republican state.
Mr Warnock and Mr Ossoff’s victories give the Democrats control of the White House, House of Representatives and the Senate, supercharging Joe Biden’s policy agenda ambitions.
Mayor of Sydney’s Inner West Council Darcy Byrne tweeted that Mr Ossoff’s mother Heather Fenton was “a great Australian export”.
Ms Fenton is founder of the US political action committee New Power PAC, which has a strong focus on boosting the number of women in political office in the state of Georgia.
Meanwhile, Senator-elect Warnock said he had overcome many doubters to claim victory.
“Georgia, I am honoured by the faith that you have shown in me,” Mr Warnock said.
“And I promise you this tonight: I am going to the Senate to work for all of Georgia, no matter who you cast your vote for in this election.
“We were told that we couldn’t win this election. But tonight we proved that with hope, hard work and the people by our side, anything is possible.”
The hard-fought run-off races have brought the international spotlight onto the southern state, nine weeks after the most tumultuous American election in two decades.
TRUMP BACKERS PROTEST AS SENATE HANGS IN THE BALANCE
Hundreds of Donald Trump’s supporters have amassed in Washington, a day ahead of a protest called by the outgoing US president who refuses to concede defeat in November’s election.
Coming from all corners of America, the demonstrators said they had answered Trump’s appeal to gather in the capital Wednesday local time, when the US Congress is expected to vote to finalise President-elect Joe Biden’s election victory.
“My commander-in-chief called me and my Lord and Savior told me” to come, said Debbie Lusk, 66, a retired accountant from Seattle.
“We either take our country back, or it is no more”.
Mr Trump last month tweeted that supporters should head to Washington for what he promised would be a “wild” day of protests.
Large parts of the downtown area were boarded up, with shops and businesses shuttered by the virus and amid fears of a repeat of the violence that rocked the city during racial-justice protests last year.
At least 300 supporters had gathered by noon, and almost all of them were flouting Washington’s mask-wearing order.
Several of them said the media had exaggerated the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has killed more than 355,000 people in the US.
TRUMP REFUSES TO ACCEPT DEFEAT
It’s been two months since the US presidential election but Trump and Biden have both been on the ground in Georgia this week arguing that the results could shape the country for years.
“If you don’t show up, the radical Democrats will win,” said Mr Trump at a rally in rural Dalton on Monday night.
Mr Biden said on the weekend: “Georgia, the whole nation is looking to you to lead us forward. One state can chart the course not just for the next four years but for a generation”.
Mr Trump continues to dispute the results of the presidential election and the count in Georgia, which Republicans lost for the first time in decades and which has been through two hand re-counts of ballots.
He was recorded in a controversial phonemail over the weekend asking the state’s Republican Governor and Secretary of State to “find” the almost 12,000 votes that would have given him Georgia.
“There’s no way we lost Georgia,” again said Mr Trump on Monday night.
The two run-off Senate races were called in Georgia after no candidates drew more than 50 per cent of the vote.
More than $US500 million was spent on what turned into one of the most expensive Senate races in history.
Over three million early ballots have been cast since early voting started in mid December.
The vote comes in an action packed week of US politics, with Congress set to certify the results of the November 3 presidential election on Wednesday, local time.
With Mr Trump still refusing to accept defeat in what he has repeatedly labelled a stolen election, Washington DC was bracing for clashes between attendees at “stop the steal” rallies and anti-Trump protesters.
“They’re not going to take this White House,” said Mr Trump on Monday night.
“We’re going to fight like hell, I’ll tell you right now.”
Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser warned the public to stay away from the downtown area, the National Guard was called out and every one of the city’s police officers was rostered over the coming two days.
On Monday, the heavily armed leader of the far right Proud Boys movement was arrested in DC for burning a Black Lives Matter flag at a protest last month.
As the head of the Senate, Vice President Mike Pence is expected to perform the usually ceremonial task of formally declaring Mr Biden the President-elect.
But he remains under pressure from his boss and has said he backs the challenges of Mr Trump and his Republican supporters in Congress.
“I know we all have got our doubts about the last election,” Mr Pence said on Monday.
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