Democratic candidates Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock recently won the Georgia runoff election, taking two Senate seats. Their victories give the Democratic party control of the U.S Senate for the first time in six years. 

As the first Democrats to win Georgia since 2000, Ossoff and Warnock’s victories are historical. Ossoff is the first Jewish senator to represent Georgia, and at only 33 years old, he will be the youngest sitting U.S senator. Ossoff, who has never held public office, defeated incumbent David Perdue, who recently completed his first full term in the Senate. Warnock’s defeat of Senator Kelly Loeffler marks a historic moment in Georgian politics— officially becoming the first Black Democrat to be elected to the senate from the South. Both senator-elects won their seats by a higher margin than what is required for the state. 

President Trump, Biden and Harris all campaigned in the state throughout the runoffs, giving Georgia’s elections national attention. Ossoff and Warnock’s campaigns mark new levels of spending, as over the span of two months, roughly half a billion dollars were spent on both “twin” senate races. 

Ossoff and Warnock will not take office immediately, as it takes several days for the runoffs to be officially certified. While Warnock’s term only lasts two years, Ossoff has won a full six-year term in the Senate. 

Ossoff and Warnock’s official victories erupted among chaos in Washington, where a pro-Trump mob stormed the nation’s Capitol in protest of Biden’s presidential win. While Trump’s departure from the White House ends with Republican losses in the House, Senate and Presidency, the Georgian senator-elects won through overwhelming margins in the state’s cities, a lack of turnout in rural counties that make up the G.O.P, and clear, fair victories in several of Georgia’s formerly Republican suburbs. 

Georgia voting “blue” marks a tremendous shift in the power of Democrats in Congress. This new balance of power will strengthen Biden’s agenda as President and insurmountably affect the political landscape of the U.S over the next four years.