Barack Obama Celebrated This Historic Victory In The Georgia Senate Runoff

After a nerve-wrecking presidential election in November 2020, the U.S. faced another high-stakes political race that carried the power to set the tone for President-elect Joe Biden's term in office. On Jan. 6, Rev. Raphael Warnock was projected to win his Senate race in Georgia, per The New York Times. The election is one of the two Senate runoff races in Georgia which will decide control of the U.S. Senate. Progressives across the country took to Twitter to celebrate — including America's most recent former POTUS. Barack Obama's tweet about the Georgia Senate results honored Warnock's historic election to the U.S. Senate, and deservedly so.

With his victory, Warnock will become the first Black person to represent Georgia in the U.S. Senate — a huge first for the state, which is more than 32% Black. In his message, Obama acknowledged the pivotal moment, referencing the late civil rights hero and U.S. congressman from Georgia, Rep. John Lewis, while highlighting the impact of Warnock's win.

In the statement included in the tweet, Obama also praised the efforts of grassroots organizers in getting out the vote and combating voter suppression. Those efforts were evident in not only Warnock's win, but also that of Democrat Jon Ossoff, whose race was called a few hours later. "The past four years show us that even outside of election season — and outside of races that garner national attention — we’ve got to remain engaged in civic life," he wrote, citing issues like police reform and gerrymandering.

Ossoff and Warnock's wins give Democrats a majority in the Senate, handing control of Congress to their party. The two new Georgia senators are expected to be sworn in as soon as the results are certified, and take office by Jan. 22. The Senate seats will remain empty until then.