Georgia win expands Democrats lead in US Senate

US senator Raphael Warnock's (D-Georgia) election victory on Tuesday will give Democrats an expanded 51-49 lead in the US Senate, which they say will make it easier to confirm nominees and provide oversight.

In a special election on Tuesday, Warnock defeated Republican Herschel Walker, a former football star endorsed by former president Donald Trump who struggled with moderate voters. The win means Democrats will finish the midterm elections having defended every seat in the Senate, in addition to gaining a vote by flipping a seat in Pennsylvania.

For nearly two years, Democrats have only had a 50-50 majority to pass laws and confirm presidential nominees, with vice president Kamala Harris often needing to cast a tie-breaking vote. Democrats' inability to lose a single vote required protracted negotiations on partisan bills such as the Inflation Reduction Act.

Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) said the additional vote will make it easier to confirm federal judges and other presidential nominees, advance legislation and issue subpoenas related to oversight. Democrats will also gain a majority in every Senate committees, which are now evenly split.

"It's been amazing how Republicans have been able to use the 50-50 Senate to procedurally hold up so many appointments," Schumer said. "It's going to be a lot quicker, swifter and easier."

But with Republicans taking control of the US House of Representatives next year, the extra Democratic vote in the Senate will mean less for passing legislation. Senate rules require 60 votes on legislation to break a filibuster, with the only exception being budget bills that House Republicans would be unlikely to approve. For judicial and presidential nominees, the Senate only requires a simple majority.

Schumer credited his party's success in the midterms to successfully enacting laws related to infrastructure funding, prescription drug prices, gun safety, manufacturing and health care. US Supreme Court rulings restricting abortion access and limiting federal authority to regulate greenhouse gases also helped motivate Democratic voters, he said.

By Chris Knight