The Georgia Senate runoff elections are finally here. MSNBC, like all the cable news networks, will bring you live coverage on Tuesday, Jan. 5, as Republican incumbents David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler face off against Democratic challengers Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff in a tight race that will decide the fate — and political leaning — of the Senate.
The results will start to come in 7 p.m. ET/10 p.m. PT, but viewers should note it is possible the full count won’t be tallied until the following day.
MSNBC will report on the race all day and will begin its special coverage of the Georgia Runoffs beginning at 4 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT with “Deadline: White House.”
Rachel Maddow and Brian Williams will go live starting at 6:30 p.m. ET to anchor “Georgia Runoffs: Fight for the Senate” and will be joined by Nicolle Wallace and Joy Reid, who will provide live analysis. Steve Kornacki and his Big Board will break down the numbers, as the votes roll in. Live overnight coverage into the early morning will be handled by Ali Velshi.
If you’ve got a valid TV provider login, you can begin watching live election results coverage beginning at 7 p.m. ET/10 p.m. PT on MSNBC or on mobile on the MSNBC app for Apple devices. MSNBC.com will also stream the results live. Unfortunately, MSNBC will not have a free option for its coverage.
NBC News online’s Decision 2020 page is its home for coverage of the Georgia runoff races. It will be updated live as results come in, so you can check that out as well. NBC’s dedicated streaming news service, NBC News Now, is always free. You can watch it on NBCNews.com, Peacock and YouTube, as well as the NBC News app.
Neither open Senate seat for Georgia captured 50% or more of the popular vote during the Nov. 3 election, which triggered this runoff election. No ballots can be counted before 7 p.m. ET on Jan. 5. Early voting opened in Georgia Dec. 14.
So far, the race has generated roughly 500 million in ad dollars between the four candidates.
If Warnock and Ossoff both win their runoff elections in Georgia, their wins would cause a 50-50 split in the Senate between the Democratic and Republican parties. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris would be the tie-breaking vote once sworn in, putting the Senate — along with the House of Representatives — in Democratic control for the first time since 2011. In the event that Ossoff and Warnock both win, New York Senator Chuck Schumer would replace Republican Senator Mitch McConnell as Senate Majority Leader.
If Perdue and Loeffler win, the Senate remains in the control of the Republican party and will make the next four to eight years of President-elect Joe Biden’s tenure difficult, to say the least.