President-elect Biden has won Georgia, AP reported Thursday evening.
Why it matters: His win, the first by a Democrat there since 1992, sets the state up as a new battleground — giving Georgia a chance to test that status in January when the runoffs for two Senate seats determine control of the chamber.
- The outcomes of these races will determine whether Biden can move aggressively to enact Democratic policy priorities and confirm his top Cabinet and judicial nominees.
The state of play: Georgia election officials released the results of the state's hand ballot recount of the 5 million votes cast in the presidential election on Thursday.
The backstory: Trump won Georgia, which carries 16 electoral votes, by about 5% in 2016.
- Biden had a slim 1.2% lead in the state the day before Election Day, according to FiveThirtyEight's average of polls.
- Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris made stops in Georgia in the final week of the campaign, as did former President Barack Obama.
The other side: "Headlines are already falsely reporting that Joe Biden is declared the winner in Georgia," Jenna Ellis, a legal advisor for the Trump Campaign said in a statement on Thursday.
- "Sorry, media, that's not how it works. The State of Georgia has not certified its results, and it should not."
- The state is expected to certify the results on Friday.
The bottom line: The state is likely the last that'll end up in Biden's win column, granting him 306 electoral votes — equal to those that were pledged to Trump in 2016.