After nail-biting US midterm elections, concrete results are far from clear. Who will gain control of the US Senate will only become known on 6 December, after a runoff in Georgia. Politicians and their backers now jump into high gear in order to save the Democrats from losing their controlling share.
"We did not see the red wave that had been predicted and the message across the bow is that democracy is still pretty safe," says Martin Raxton, president of the Krimson Political Action Council (Pac), a lobby group.
The Krimson Pac supports mostly Democrat candidates like Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock, now locked in a mortal battle with his Republican rival Herschel Walker; Jon Ossoff, Georgia's other senator, Stacey Abrams, who earlier this week lost the race for governorship against incumbent Jack Kemp, and Andre Dickens, the Mayor of Atlanta.
The 8 November midterm election resulted for Georgia in a runoff. Accoring to the state's legislation, one candidate must have at least 50 percent of the vote; the "winner takes all" formula doesn't apply here. The decisive election is to be held four weeks after the midterms, and on 6 December, Georgians will have to go to the polls again.
"I think certainly the grassroots will definitely come out," says Raxton. Organisations will be boots on the ground, and I think that these next four weeks are definitely going to be a sprint to the finish line."
Grassroots organisations such as the New Georgia Project, Black Voters Matter, Woke Vote and Common Cause Georgia have been campaigning relentlessly over the past weeks to motivate Georgians to get to the polls, and they will have to double down on their efforts in the weeks to come if they want the Democrats to keep the Senate.
In the case of a 50-50 senatorial split between the parties, Vice-President Kamala Harris will have the deciding vote – which has been the situation since the 2020 elections.
But if the Democrats want to keep things as they are, Warnock has to win. According to the The New York Times poll tracker, the two parties are neck and neck.
But in Alaska, where most of the votes are counted, the Republican Party leads by far; Nevada will likely be won by a Republican. Only in Arizona do the Democrats have a chance of a Senate seat. If Walker wins in Georgia, the Republicans will control the Senate with a 51-49 majority.
With more than 95 percent of the votes counted, Warnock is leading with 49.4 percent of the votes, against Walker with 48.5 percent. A third party contestant, the Libertarian Chace Oliver, won 2.1 percent, and it is these voters which may tip the balance.
Warnock is the senior pastor at Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church, where slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr once preached.
Walker, after a glittering career as a football player, benefitted from name recognition and Trump's endorsement.
