Georgia certifies Democratic winners of Jan. 5 U.S. Senate run-off elections

Georgia officials have certified the results of the state's Jan. 5 runoff election for two U.S. Senate seats, its secretary of state said, confirming Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock had won their races. The statewide results "are a true and correct tabulation of the certified returns received by this office from each county", the Georgia secretary of state's office said in a statement.

The nation had closely watched the two Georgia races, the results of which have ended Republicans' majority control of the Senate in Washington. Once Ossoff and Warnock are sworn in, there will be 50 Republicans along with 48 Democrats and two independents who align themselves with Democrats in the 100-member chamber.

However, once Kamala Harris, a Democrat, is sworn in as U.S. vice president on Wednesday she will become president of the Senate and can cast tie-breaking votes on legislation and presidential nominations. Democrat Chuck Schumer is expected to become Senate majority leader under this new arrangement, with Mitch McConnell, the current leader, demoted to Republican leader.

Nonetheless, the 50-50 split means that the two parties might have to work more cooperatively than they have over the last several years to avoid legislative gridlock.

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