Perdue, Ossoff bracing for potential Senate seat runoff while votes still being counted

ATLANTA — If you’ve turned on the television or watched a video on the internet in the last six months you already know how much attention the two Georgia senate seats are drawing in this election.

But a pair of runoffs could cause a political spending frenzy in Georgia like we’ve never seen.

If the percentages hold the way the are Thursday night, with Perdue sitting at 49.87% to Ossoffs 47.81%, Georgia will be unique in U.S. history with two Senate runoff races in the same year. Kelly Loeffler is already facing a runoff with Democratic challenger Raphael Warnock.

The outcome of these races could determine which party will control the Senate.

Perdue’s campaign manager released the following statement:

“There is one thing we know for sure: Senator David Perdue will be re-elected to the U.S. Senate and Republicans will defend the majority. Perdue will finish this election in first place with substantially more votes than his Democrat opponent. 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. It is clear that more Georgians believe that David Perdue’s positive vision for the future direction of our country is better than Chuck Schumer’s radical, socialist agenda. There’s only one candidate in this race who has ever lost a runoff, and it isn’t David Perdue.”

Ossoff’s campaign has released the following statement:

“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. Georgians are sick and tired of the endless failure, incompetence, and corruption of Senator Perdue and Donald Trump.”

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A poll conducted over the weekend showed Perdue with a slight lead over Ossoff, but Libertarian Shane Hazel siphoned off enough votes from Perdue to cause him to fall under 50%. Hazel told Channel 2′s Richard Elliot that is what he wanted to do.

“I could probably attest to my Twitter feed that I’ve gotten enough hate mail from the Republicans and Democrats out there that think we are pulling votes away from them,” Hazel said.

Both candidates have had a lot of support from big names. Perdue is getting the backing of President Trump and Ossoff campaigned on Monday with former president Barack Obama.

The balance of power in the U.S senate hangs on the results of two races in Georgia and its very possible the Senate is deadlocked 49-49 after the general election and both Georgia senate seats could decide which party holds power. A runoff would take place on Jan. 5, 2021.

Channel 2 Action News has a team of producers compiling election results for dozens of races and we’ll update them throughout the day. You can get the latest numbers and full analysis by watching Channel 2 Action News all day and special live streaming coverage on WSBTV.com, our phone apps or the WSB Now app free for your Roku, Amazon Fire and Apple TV starting at 7p.m.