georgia senate runoffs could be nailbiters heres what we know so far politicsearly voting data suggests both runoffs could be nailbiters s lesserepa via shutterstockjan 5 2021two republican candidates senator kelly loeffler and david perdue whose senate term ended sunday are battling to keep their seats in georgias runoff election if their democratic challengers jon ossoff and the rev raphael warnock both win democrats will reclaim the senate majoritycontrol of the senate will effectively set the parameters of presidentelect joseph r biden jrs first two years in office a republicanled senate would complicate his ability to staff his cabinet pass legislation and advance his political prioritiesheres a look at what we know so farearly voting data suggests that the races are very competitive there are some indications that democrats had a bigger share of the earlyvoting electorate than they did in the general election raising hopes for a party that has traditionally been the underdog in runoff racesthe outcome now depends on whether republicans can overcome the democrats early gains when they head to the polls on tuesday rates of early voting have been lowest in the conservative northwest of the state worrying some republicans but others argue that their supporters typically vote in higher numbers on election day and hope that president trumps rally on monday in dalton a city in the northwest will push more republicans to the pollsstrategists from both parties remain uncertain on what to anticipate beyond a tight race demographic changes have shifted the politics in georgia turning the traditionally conservative southern state into a hotly contested battlegroundin november mr perdue received 497 percent of the vote just short of the majority he would have needed to avoid a runoff while his challenger mr ossoff had 479 percent a difference of about 88000 votes the field was more crowded in the other senate contest mr warnock finished with 329 percent of the vote and ms loeffler with 259 percentmodeling the electorate for these rematches is trickier than usual never has a georgia runoff determined the balance of power in the senate or been held during a pandemicyes there could be yet another round of counting after multiple vote counts last year state officials are preparing for all contingenciesin november it took a week and a half of counting after election day before it was clear that mr biden had won the staterepublicans are expected to command an early lead on election night because the more conservative areas of the state typically report results faster and because votes cast in person which have favored republicans during the coronavirus pandemic are typically released earlier heavily democratic counties including the suburban atlanta areas that helped mr biden win historically take longer to count votesa staggering influx of political spending has flooded the state as campaign operatives party officials and outside groups descended on the races nearly 500 million has been spent on advertising according to adimpact an advertising tracking firm saturating the airwaves at previously unheardof levels