The new president of the United States has to wait a while before he knows if he can have a majority in the Senate. A decision on the filling of two seats is not expected until January.
Both open seats are from the state of Georgia where no candidate got more than 50 percent of the vote in the election, requiring a so-called run-off. The second round will take place at the beginning of January.
In his fight against Democrat Jon Ossoff, incumbent Republican Senator David Perdue just fell short of getting reelected immediately. He got stuck at 49.8 percent of the vote. More candidates compete in a special election for the second Senate seat, with no candidate coming even close to the 50 percent mark.
Both parties are currently balancing each other. Both Democrats and Republicans are in the preliminary results at 47 seats. In Arizona, Democrat Mark Kelly leads against incumbent Senator Martha McSally.
In Alaska, incumbent Republican Senator Dan Sullivan appears to be on his way to reelection, and in Maine, incumbent Senator Susan Collins seems to be repelling Democrat Sara Gideon’s attack. In North Carolina, Thom Tillis has the edge over his Democratic challenger Cal Cunningham. The difference is slightly less than 100,000 votes
Should the distribution of seats in the Senate be 50 to 50, the Vice President as President of the Senate has the casting vote.