Raphael Warnock wins Georgia runoff election against Sen. Loeffler;

After swapping leads over the course of the night Tuesday, Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff benefited from late counts in Democratic areas of the state, which gave Warnock an increasing lead over Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler as the final precincts were counted. Edison Research called the race for Warnock early Wednesday.

Ossoff held a narrower lead over David Perdue (R), whose Senate term expired Sunday. Most of the remaining ballots were believed to be from strongly Democratic areas.

The Warnock win — and the possibility of a second Democratic victory — represented a historic upset in a longtime Republican bastion, signaling a clear shift in the political makeup of the state that Biden won nine weeks ago. Warnock will be the first African American Democratic senator from a former Confederate state, and Ossoff, 33, would be the youngest newly elected Democratic senator since Biden in 1973.

The races also represented a forceful rejection of President Trump in the final days of his term, and they raised questions about the central role the president has vowed to maintain in his party after his departure from office.

At stake in Tuesday’s contests was the governing coalition Biden will enjoy in his first years in office. If both Democrats win, they would flip control of the Senate, with the tie-breaking vote of Vice President-elect Kamala D. Harris, opening the door for potential passage of legislation Democrats campaigned on over the past two years, including­ an expansion of federal health-care subsidies, a tax increase on the wealthy and a comprehensive immigration overhaul.

Trump had supported both Republicans in the race, most recently on Monday, calling Loeffler and Perdue close allies who were essential to holding back Democratic priorities.

But his efforts were complicated by his simultaneous decision to attack Republican officials in the state; his proposal to increase stimulus payments to $2,000, which was opposed by GOP Senate leadership and embraced by Democrats; and his false allegations that the 2020 elections in the state were rigged.

In a live-streamed speech, Warnock claimed victory and thanked his supporters in an emotional address that noted he had received a vote from his mother.

“The 82-year-old hands that used to pick somebody else’s cotton went to the polls and picked her youngest son to be a United States senator,” said Warnock, the pastor at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church.

“We were told that we couldn’t win this election,” Warnock continued. “But tonight, we proved that with hope, hard work and the people by our side, anything is possible.”

Ossoff’s campaign manager, Ellen Foster, issued a statement early Wednesday expressing confidence that he would win because of the location of the uncounted ballots.

“We look forward to seeing the process through in the coming hours and moving ahead so Jon can start fighting for all Georgians in the U.S. Senate,” she said.

As Democrats gained in the…