Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon
Ossoff on Tuesday defeated incumbent Republican Senators Kelly
Loeffler and David Perdue, respectively, in Georgia's run-off
election.
Their wins hands control of the Senate
to Democrats, with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris serving as
Senate tiebreaker.
Warnock, who defeated Loeffler, is the
first black person elected to the U.S. Senate from Georgia. Ossoff
also makes history as the first Jewish person elected to the U.S.
Senate from Georgia.
The wins are especially noteworthy for
the LGBT community. Both Democrats support LGBT rights, while
Loeffler and Perdue are opposed.
According to the Human Rights
Campaign's (HRC) 116th Congressional Scorecard, which
measures a lawmaker's support for LGBT rights, Perdue ranked zero in
the last three congressional sessions.
Loeffler introduced the Protection of
Women & Girls Sports Act, legislation that sought to prohibit
transgender girls from participating in school sports.
Loeffler, the wealthiest member of
Congress, had pledged to donate her $174,000 congressional salary to
charities in Georgia. Part of that money went to an adoption agency
that refuses to serve same-sex couples and is opposed to marriage
equality.
(Related: Senator
Kelly Loeffler donated to adoption agency that refuses same-sex
couples.)
Results from Tuesday's election means
that Democrats will control both chambers of Congress and the White
House, giving incoming President-elect Joe Biden a greater
opportunity to enact his legislative agenda.
Biden has promised to make passage of
the Equality Act a priority. The legislation, which was blocked last
year in the Senate after passage in the House, seeks to prohibit
anti-LGBT discrimination.