Results are slowly trickling in for battleground Georgia, a state that could impact who will hold the majority in the Senate as well as could push President Donald Trump or Democrat Joe Biden closer to victory.
With an estimated 96% of the state reporting their votes, Biden is trailing the president by roughly 60,000 votes. Trump’s lead over Biden has shrunk as more votes get counted. Earlier Wednesday, the president had a lead over 100,000 votes.
Biden, who has won 264 electoral votes, currently does not need to win Georgia to win the presidency if he wins Nevada or Pennsylvania or North Carolina. Trump’s path to victory, however, is narrowing and would need to win Georgia to remain competitive.
Officials in the state called it a night counting votes on Tuesday and resumed Wednesday. However, Fulton County, which includes Atlanta and is the state’s most populous county, had a small team continue to count mail-in ballots overnight.
On Wednesday morning, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said that 200,000 absentee ballots and 40,000 to 50,000 early votes have yet to be counted. However by Wednesday evening, 96% of the state's votes were in.
"My team has sent a reminder to counties to get all, let me repeat, all results counted today," Raffensberger said.
Many of the outstanding ballots that needed to be counted were in counties surrounding Atlanta.
But other counties, like Chatham County, home to Savannah, also still have thousands of uncounted absentee ballots. The winner of the state will likely come down to several thousand votes.
One Senate race in the state is also too close to call at the moment.
GOP Sen. David Perdue, the incumbent, is still leading Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff 50.5% to 47.2%, with an estimated 96% of the votes reporting. Like Trump, Perdue’s lead over Ossoff is shrinking as more votes come in. If one candidate does not make it over the 50% threshold, the race will go to a runoff in January.
Georgia’s Senate seats could help Republicans keep their majority in the Senate or push Democrats closer to taking control of that chamber of Congress.
Georgia’s Senate special election for Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler’s seat, who was appointed to the seat after Sen. Johnny Isakson resigned in 2019, will be going to a runoff election in January.
None of the six candidates, including Loeffler, reached a 50% threshold in the race. Loeffler will be facing Raphael Warnock, a Democrat who is the senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.
During remarks Tuesday evening, Warnock thanked supporters for propelling him to a runoff and urged them to continue to support him in the coming weeks for the runoff.
"Thank you for pushing me one step closer to the Senate," he said. "Because when I get there, you will go with me. Your concerns will go with me. Your issues will go with me.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Georgia results: Here's what we know about results for the battleground state