In the wee hours of the morning, the major news organizations have called the Warnock-Loeffler race in favor of the Democrats. While I was sleeping Warnock’s margin has increased from 35K votes to 53K votes, putting him ahead by 1.2% (50.6 – 49.4).

The other race remains uncalled, but the lead has changed overnight: Ossoff is now ahead of Perdue by 16K votes, or 0.4% (50.2 – 49.8) — within the 0.5% margin at which the losing candidate can request a recount, but slightly ahead of Biden’s margin over Trump in November. Per the New York Times: “The remaining uncounted vote in Georgia appeared largely to be in Democratic-leaning counties in the Atlanta area, such as DeKalb and Fulton counties, as well as ballots from voters in the military and overseas.”

As such, things are looking rather good for the Democrats at this moment. Achieving a 50-50 tie in the Senate would allow Schumer to become Majority Leader in lieu of McConnell, and would give the Biden Administration a shot at actually being able to govern, without a solidly obstructionist Senate. I still wouldn’t expect to see transformative legislation passed in the 117th Congress, given the tenuous nature of the Democratic legislative majorities; as I saw one wag put it last night, Senator Manchin (D?-WV) is now the real Majority Leader, and I imagine as the most conservative Democratic Senator he will indeed have an outsized degree of influence on the legislative agenda. But, there’s a lot to be gained simply from Schumer’s ability to ensure that Biden’s Cabinet nominees, Biden’s judicial nominees, and any legislation adopted by the House can actually get a shot at moving forward in the Senate.

Later today attention will shift back to Capitol Hill for the joint meeting of Congress to open the Electoral College votes. There is reporting that Pence told Trump yesterday that “he did not believe he had the power to block congressional certification of [Biden]’s victory in the presidential election despite Mr. Trump’s baseless insistence that he did.”