One of the two US Senate races in Georgia is heading for a run-off election.
The three-way “jungle primary” contest involving Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler ended with no one getting at least 50 percent of the votes, according to projections by CNN and NBC News.
So the top two finishers — Loeffler and Democrat Raphael Warnock, pastor of Atlanta’s famed Ebenezer Baptist Church — will compete head-to-head on Jan. 5, NBC said.
The third-place finisher, US Rep. Doug Collins (R-Georgia), quickly announced he was backing Loeffler, saying Warnock “would be a disaster for Georgia and America.”
“I just called @kloeffler and congratulated her on making the runoff,” Collins tweeted.
“She has my support and endorsement. I look forward to all Republicans coming together.”
In an unusual scenario caused by last year’s resignation of senior US Sen. Johnny Isakson, the battleground Peach State held elections for both of its seats in the US Senate.
Loeffler, who was appointed by Gov. Brian Kemp to replace Isakson, who resigned for health reasons, was challenged by Collins, a staunch supporter of President Trump who the president had favored as Isakson’s replacement.
But polls showed both Republicans trailing Warnock, whose church was the spiritual home of the late civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr., who was its co-pastor until his assassination in 1968.
The other race pitted freshman Republican Sen. David Perdue against Democrat Jon Ossoff, who gained national attention by smashing fundraising records during his narrow, 2017 loss in a race for the House of Representatives.
Last week, Perdue bowed out of their final, scheduled debate after the two traded especially nasty barbs during a Wednesday face-off.
Ossoff called Perdue a “crook” over stock sales ahead of the coronavirus pandemic, while Perdue accused Ossoff of being in thrall to out-of-state donors with a “radical socialist agenda.”
Earlier, Perdue also came under fire for mocking Kamala Harris’ first name on the campaign trail and for a digital ad that enlarged his Jewish opponent’s nose, which critics called anti-Semitic.
That race was considered too close to call early Wednesday morning.
