Democrats Take Control Of Senate As Ossoff And Warnock Are Sworn In

Topline

Sens. Raphael Warnock (D) and Jon Ossoff (D) of Georgia were sworn in Wednesday afternoon, officially splitting the Senate 50-50 between the two parties and handing Democrats narrow control over both houses of Congress.

Key Facts

Key Background

Democrats hope unified control over the White House and both houses of Congress will make parts of President Joe Biden’s early legislative agenda easier to accomplish. Biden promised to pass a sweeping new Covid-19 relief bill and send another round of stimulus checks to Americans if Warnock and Ossoff won, and narrow Democratic control will ease the confirmation process for his Cabinet nominees. Still, Republicans can use the filibuster to hold up a wide range of non-budgetary bills, and Democrats will need to win over moderates like Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) in order to pass any major legislation on party lines, possibly scaling back some of Biden’s ambitions.

Surprising Fact

Ossoff and Warnock’s wins marked several milestones. Warnock is the first Black senator to represent Georgia, a state where nearly a third of the population is Black, and Ossoff is the state’s first Jewish senator and at 33 is the youngest member of the Senate.

Tangent

Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) was also sworn in after California Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed him to replace Harris. He’s California’s first Latino senator, a significant marker for a state where almost 40% of the population is Hispanic or Latino.

Further Reading

In Georgia, Democrats close with populist pitch vowing $2,000 stimulus checks (NBC News)

McConnell, Schumer close in on power-sharing agreement in evenly divided Senate (CNN)