As the Presidential Election results begin to die down in excitement,  a new question has appeared; who will control the senate this upcoming term? 

Well, the answer to this question is rather complicated. Normally around this time of year, we would already have an answer whether the senate will be Republican majority or Democratic majority, but in Georgia, senators have yet to be elected. While the election was held, and people voted for their candidates, none of the candidates received more than 50% of the vote (which is required by Georgia law). Therefore, for the first time since 1992 Georgia is hosting both senate seat runoff races. 

These senate seats are incredibly important because currently the senate is split with 52 republicans and 48 democrats out of the 100 seat house. If the Republican candidates win, it will stay the same, but if the Democratic candidates win, it will be a 50/50 split. This may be crucial to some of President-elect Joe Biden’s policies he is planning to put in place. 

Georgia is well known for being a swing state, recently going blue for the presidential election. Now, many are encouraging people to vote in this important senate race. It’s expected for a runoff turnout of between 3.5 million and four million voters. Even President-elect Joe Biden is planning on going and encouraging Georgian voters to vote this week. 

According to Rowan Harris, a freshman who considers herself a leftist would like to see a more equally balanced senate. According to her, “Having a more equal or less republican senate could possibly lead to fewer scandals and political turmoil overall.” She says this because Kelly Loeffler, the republican senate candidate, allegedly sold $18 million worth of stocks before the general public was notified that Covid-19 could be a threat back in January, 2020.

Olivia Good, on the other hand, considers herself a Republican and would like to see the Republicans win the senate race. She states, “Since we have a Democrat president, it would keep our country balanced.”