On Wednesday, amid chaos in Washington, D.C., the Associated Press projected that Democrat Jon Ossoff has defeated Republican incumbent David Perdue, joining Rev. Raphael Warnock in winning the runoff elections and flipping the U.S. Senate to Democrat control for the first time since 2015. 

The race call comes hours after Warnock defeated Republican incumbent Sen. Kelly Loeffler. Warnock will be the state's first Black senator and the second ever elected from the South.

With Ossoff's win, Democrats will have complete control of Congress on Jan. 20, strengthening President-elect Joe Biden’s standing as he attempts to battle the COVID-19 pandemic, build his cabinet, and take on other progressive platforms, such as health care and climate change. 

Democrats already control the House, and adding the Senate will make it more difficult for Republicans to block Biden’s agenda, along with his Cabinet picks and judicial nominations.

Earlier Wednesday, prior to the race being called in his favor, Ossoff claimed victory in the race.

“It is with humility that I thank the people of Georgia for electing me to serve you in the United States Senate,” Ossoff said in remarks via online video. “Thank you for the confidence and trust that you have placed in me.”

In his remarks, Ossoff, a journalist and documentary film producer, said he’d work to put an end to the coronavirus pandemic and help Georgians recover financially.

“Let’s unite now to beat this virus and rush economic relief to the people of our state and to the American people,” he said. “I will work in the U.S. Senate to support a robust public health response so we can beat this virus.

“This campaign has been about health and jobs and justice for the people of this state, all the people of this state, and they will be my guiding principles as I serve this state in the U.S. Senate,” he added. 

Ossoff, who did not mention Perdue, told voters: “Whether you were for me or against me, I’ll be for you in the U.S. Senate. I will serve all the people of the state. I will give everything I’ve got in ensuring Georgia’s interests are represented in the U.S. Senate.”

Speaking to supporters virtually Wednesday, prior to the race being called, Democratic Senate candidate Rev. Raphael Warnock said he was "honored" that Georgia voters put their faith in him: "I am going to the Senate to work for all of Georgia, no matter who you cast your vote for in this election."

“We were told that we couldn’t win this election," Warnock said. "But tonight we proved that with hope, hard work and the people by our side, anything is possible. May my story be an inspiration to some young person who is trying to grasp and grab hold to the American Dream.”

Warnock serves as the senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, the same church where Martin Luther King Jr. preached.

Commonly referred to as “Martin Luther King’s church,” Ebenezer sits in the middle of a national park dedicated to the civil rights icon’s life and legacy, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors and tourists annually. Warnock’s leadership at the church is his chief credential, a position so prestigious some note the U.S. Senate is a step down.

Warnock has continued to preach as he campaigns for office — albeit pre-recorded in an empty sanctuary, due to the pandemic. In a message delivered Sunday, Warnock seemed to allude to the runoff, telling viewers that they are “on the verge of victory” in their lives, if they accept that God has already equipped them with the ability to win against their adversaries. 

“When God is with you, you can defeat giants,” said Warnock.

Born in Savannah, Georgia, Warnock grew up in public housing, the son of Pentecostal pastors. He graduated from Morehouse College before getting his Masters in Divinity, Philosophy, and Doctorate in Philosophy from Union Theological Seminary in New York. 

Warnock worked as a pastor in New York and Baltimore before becoming the youngest person to serve as senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church.

In his remarks Wednesday, Warnock recounted the story of his upbringing and his parents in his remarks, making special mention of his mother: “The other day, because this is America, the 82-year-old hands that used to pick somebody else’s cotton picked her youngest son to be a United States senator,” he said. “Tonight, we proved with hope, hard work and the people by our side, anything is possible.”

Loeffler, a former businesswoman, was appointed by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp to replace the retiring Sen. Johnny Isakson, who resigned in 2019 due to health concerns. She is estimated to be the wealthiest member of Congress, according to estimates from Newsweek and Forbes, factoring in her combined net worth with her husband, Jeffrey Sprecher, the chairman of the New York Stock Exchange and Intercontinental Exchange.

The senator has faced scrutiny for offloading parts of her investment portfolio and purchasing new stocks as Congress was receiving briefings on the growing threat of the coronavirus pandemic. She has said she played no part in the trades and has not attempted to profit from her time in the Senate. 

In June, the Senate Ethics Committee found no evidence of wrongdoing by Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler of Georgia after investigating stock trades she made weeks before the coronavirus caused markets to plunge.

In July 2020, Loeffler, the co-owner of the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream, sent a letter to the league’s commissioner objecting to the WNBA’s social justice plans, asking Commissioner Cathy Engelbert to abandon plans for players to wear warmup jerseys with “Black Lives Matter” and “Say Her Name.”

“In a time when polarizing politics is as divisive as ever, sports has the power to be a unifying antidote,” Loeffler wrote. “And now more than ever, we should be united in our goal to remove politics from sports.”

In response, in August, WNBA players, including those on the Dream, wore t-shirts with the phrase “Vote Warnock” on them; within days, Warnock’s campaign said it raised nearly $200,000, helping the Democrat run ads and gain awareness in the race.

“I am honored and humbled by the overwhelming support from the WNBA players,” Warnock wrote on Twitter in August. “This movement gives us the opportunity to fight for what we believe in, and I stand by all athletes promoting social justice on and off the court”

Trump’s false claims of voter fraud cast a dark shadow over the runoff elections, which were held only because no candidate hit the 50% threshold in the general election. He attacked the state’s election chief on the eve of the election and raised the prospect that some votes might not be counted even as votes were being cast Tuesday afternoon.

Republican state officials on the ground reported no significant problems.

This week’s elections mark the formal finale to the turbulent 2020 election season more than two months after the rest of the nation finished voting. The unusually high stakes transformed Georgia, once a solidly Republican state, into one of the nation’s premier battlegrounds for the final days of Trump’s presidency -- and likely beyond.

Loeffler, who remains a Georgia senator until the results of Tuesday’s election are finalized, said she would return to Washington on Wednesday morning to join a small group of senators planning to challenge Congress’ vote to certify Biden’s victory.

Warnock will serve out the remaining two years of Isakson's term, and would be up for re-election in the 2022 midterm elections.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.