2020–21 United States Senate election in Georgia

← 2014 November 3, 2020 (first round) January 5, 2021 (runoff) 2026 →
Turnout	65.4% (first round) 61.5% (runoff)
Candidate Jon Ossoff David Perdue Party Democratic Republican First round 2,374,519 47.95% 2,462,617 49.73% Runoff 2,269,923 50.61% 2,214,979 49.39%
First round county results First round congressional district results First round precinct results Runoff county results Runoff congressional district results Runoff precinct results Ossoff:     40–50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90%     >90% Perdue:     40–50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90%     >90% Tie:     40–50%     50%     No data
U.S. senator before election David Perdue Republican Elected U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff Democratic

The2020–21 United States Senate election in Georgia was held on November 3, 2020, and on January 5, 2021 (as a runoff), to elect theClass II member of theUnited States Senate to represent theState of Georgia.DemocratJon Ossoff narrowly defeated incumbentRepublican SenatorDavid Perdue in the runoff election, despite Perdue receiving more votes in the first round. The general election was held concurrently with the2020 presidential election, as well as withother elections to the Senate,elections to the U.S. House of Representatives and variousstate and local elections.

No candidate received a majority of the vote during the general election on November 3, so the top two finishers—Perdue (49.7%) and Ossoff (47.9%)—advanced to arunoff election, held on January 5, 2021. The runoff was held concurrently with thespecial election for Georgia's other U.S. Senate seat (which had also advanced to a runoff), in which Republican incumbentKelly Loeffler lost to Democratic nomineeRaphael Warnock. After the general round of elections, Republicans held 50 Senate seats and the Democratic caucus 48 (including two independents who caucus with them). As a result, the two runoffs decided control of the Senate under the incomingBiden administration. By winning both seats, Democrats took control of the chamber, withVice PresidentKamala Harris's tie-breaking vote giving them an effective majority. The extraordinarily high political stakes caused the races to attract significant attention nationwide and globally. On January 6, 2021, most major news outlets projected Ossoff the winner, in the midst of theUS Capitol riot.^[1][2] Perdue conceded the race on January 8.^[3][4] According toOpenSecrets, this campaign was the most expensive in U.S. Senate history, with over $468 million spent.^[5] Ossoff's victory, along with Warnock's, gave the Democrats control of the Senate for the first time since 2015. Ossoff and Warnock became the first Democrats to be elected to the U.S. Senate from Georgia sinceZell Miller in a2000 special election.

Ossoff became the first Democrat elected to a full term in the Senate from Georgia sinceMax Cleland, who held this seat from 1997 to 2003, and the firstJewish member of the Senate from the state.^[6] Ossoff became theyoungest senator sinceDon Nickles won in1980, and the youngest Democrat sinceJoe Biden won in1972. Georgia election officials certified Ossoff's victory on January 19, 2021; he was sworn in on January 20.^[7] Ossoff is the first Jewish senator from theDeep South sinceBenjamin F. Jonas ofLouisiana, who was elected in1878, and the firstmillennial United States senator. The two elections mark the first time since the1994 United States Senate election in Tennessee and theconcurrent special election that both Senate seats in a state have flipped from one party to the other in a single election cycle. This was also the first time the Democrats achieved this since West Virginia's1958 Senate elections. With a margin of 1.2%, this election was also the closest race of the 2020 Senate election cycle. Following his election loss, Perdue ran in the2022 Georgia gubernatorial election but lost in the Republican primary to incumbentBrian Kemp. Perdue would then go on to be nominated as theU.S. ambassador to China followingDonald Trump's victory in the2024 presidential election.^[8]

• David Perdue, incumbent U.S. senator^[9]

• James Jackson^[10][11]
• Michael Jowers, veteran^[10][11]
• Ervan Katari Miller, perennial candidate^[10][11]

• Derrick Grayson, activist and U.S. Senate candidate in2014 and2016.^[12](ran in thespecial Class 3 seat).^[13]

• Jon Ossoff, investigative journalist, media executive, nominee forGeorgia's 6th congressional district in2017^[15]

• Teresa Tomlinson, former mayor ofColumbus^[16][17]
• Sarah Riggs Amico, nominee forLieutenant Governor of Georgia in2018^[18]
• Marckeith DeJesus, candidate forGeorgia State Senate in 2017 and candidate forGeorgia House of Representatives in 2016^[19]
• Maya Dillard-Smith, former two-term Senate Appointee Judge over judicial performance and Rules Committee Chair^[20]
• James Knox, retired U.S. Air Force officer^[21]
• Tricia Carpenter McCracken, journalist and nominee forGeorgia's 12th congressional district in2016^[21]

• Akhenaten Amun, high school teacher^[10][11]
• Harold Shouse^[10][11]
• Ted Terry, mayor ofClarkston^[22](endorsed Ossoff)
• Elaine Whigham Williams, pastor and candidate for president in 2016^[10][11]

• Stacey Abrams, nominee for governor of Georgia in2018 and former minority leader of theGeorgia House of Representatives^[23][24](endorsed Ossoff)
• Jason Carter, grandson of formerGeorgia Governor and PresidentJimmy Carter, former state senator, and nominee for governor of Georgia in2014(endorsed Tomlinson)^[25][26][27]
• Stacey Evans, former state representative and candidate for governor of Georgia in2018(ran for state house)^[28]
• Scott Holcomb, state representative^[9]
• Jen Jordan, state senator^[29]
• Michelle Nunn, nominee for U.S. Senate in2014 and daughter of former SenatorSam Nunn^[25][30]
• Kasim Reed, formermayor of Atlanta^[31][32]
• Doug Teper, former state representative^[25]
• Sally Yates, formerUnited States Deputy Attorney General^[33]

Almost four times as many Georgia voters participated in the 2020 Democratic Senate primary as in the2016 primary, when only 310,053 votes were cast.^[54]

• Shane Hazel, formerU.S. Marine, podcaster, and Republican candidate forGeorgia's 7th congressional district in2018^[56]

• Elbert "Al" Bartell, perennial candidate(ran as an independent candidate in thespecial Class 3 seat)^[57][58]
• Allen Buckley, Libertarian candidate for2016^[10](ran as an independent candidate in thespecial Class 3 seat)^[59]
• Tom Jones^[60][59]
• Clifton Kilby^[61][11][59]
• Darrell McGuire(write-in candidate), retired Georgia State Trooper^[62][58]
• Valencia Stovall, Georgian Democratic state representative fromDistrict 74 since 2013^[10](ran as an independent candidate in thespecial Class 3 seat)^[59]

The first debate between Hazel, Ossoff, and Perdue occurred virtually^[63] on October 12.^[64]

A second debate between Ossoff and Perdue, held on October 28^[e] inSavannah and aired on television stationWTOC-TV,^[65] was more heated and made national headlines, with Ossoff saying that Perdue had claimed "COVID-19 was no deadlier than the flu", was "looking after [his] own assets, and ... portfolio", and that Perdue voted "four times to end protections for preexisting conditions".^[66] Ossoff also called Perdue a "crook" and criticized him for "attacking the health of the people that [he] represent[s]".^[67] Perdue said Ossoff will "say and do anything to my friends in Georgia to mislead them about how radical and socialist" his agenda is.^[68] Video of the exchange went viral.^[63][67]

The next day, October 29, Perdue said he would not attend the third and final debate, previously scheduled to be broadcast onWSB-TV on November 1; instead Perdue decided to attend a rally with PresidentDonald Trump inRome on the same day^[69]—"as lovely as another debate listening to Jon Ossoff lie to the people of Georgia sounds",^[68] according to a Perdue spokesman.

On December 6, Ossoff debated an empty podium as Perdue declined to participate in aGeorgia Public Broadcasting-held debate.^[70] Ossoff criticized Perdue's absence, accusing him of skipping the event because of the negative response to his performance in the October debates.

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No candidate received a majority of the vote on November 3, so the top two finishers—incumbentRepublican senatorDavid Perdue (49.7%) andDemocratic challengerJon Ossoff (47.9%)—advanced to arunoff election held on January 5, 2021.^[185][186]

Voters whose mail-in ballots were rejected were allowed to submit corrections until 5pm on November 6.^[187][188]

Perdue won eight of 14 congressional districts in the general election.^[191]

The runoff election between Perdue and Ossoff was on January 5, 2021,^[192] alongside thespecial election for the other Senate seat held by RepublicanKelly Loeffler, to fill the remainder ofJohnny Isakson's unexpired term (which expired in 2023). Loeffler was defeated byRaphael Warnock in that special election.

Following the 2020 Senate elections, Republicans held 50 Senate seats and the Democratic caucus 48.^[193] Since Democrats won both Georgia runoffs, their caucus gained control of the Senate, as the resultant 50–50 tie is broken by Democratic vice presidentKamala Harris. If the Democrats had lost either race, Republicans would have retained control of the Senate.^[194] The high political stakes caused the races to attract significant nationwide attention.^{[195][196][197]} These elections are the third and fourth Senate runoff elections to be held in Georgia since runoffs were first mandated in 1964, following runoffs in1992 and2008.^[198] It is also the third time that both of Georgia's Senate seats have been up for election at the same time, following double-barrel elections in1914 and1932.^[199]

The deadline for registration for the runoff election was December 7, 2020. Absentee ballots for the runoff election were sent out beginning on November 18, and in-person voting began on December 14.^[200][201] Ossoff's runoff campaign largely focused around accusing Perdue of corruption as well as aggressively courting Black voters in an attempt to drive up turnout, while Perdue characterised Ossoff as asocialist and accused him of having ties to thePeople's Republic of China.^[202] Perdue's campaign was hampered by his refusal to state thatJoe Biden had won that year'spresidential election, which made it exceedingly difficult for him to argue that an Ossoff victory would create a Democratictrifecta.^[203]

As Ossoff and Warnock were both sworn in on January 20, 2021 shortly after the start of theBiden administration, Ossoff became Georgia's senior senator and Democrats simultaneously held both of Georgia’s U.S. Senate seats for the first time since 2003.

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This section also contains pre-runoff polls excluding all candidates except head-to-head matchups.

Margin swing by county

Legend

•   Democratic — >15%
•   Democratic — +12.5−15%
•   Democratic — +10−12.5%
•   Democratic — +7.5-10%
•   Democratic — +5−7.5%
•   Democratic — +2.5−5%
•   Democratic — +0−2.5%
•   Republican — +0−2.5%
•   Republican — +2.5−5%
•   Republican — +5−7.5%
•   Republican — +7.5−10%
•   Republican — +10−12.5%
•   Republican — +12.5−15%
•   Republican — >15%

County flips

Legend

• Democratic   Hold   Gain from Republican

  Republican   Hold   Gain from Democratic

Ossoff won Washington and Baldwin counties in the runoff, after having lost them in the general election.