Image source, Jon Ossoff/YouTube

In his victory claim, streamed on his YouTube channel, Ossoff said he was "honoured" to have been chosen by the people of Georgia.

"Thank you so much for the confidence you have placed in me," the Democrat said.

"Whether you were for me or against me, I will be for you in the US Senate – I will serve all the people of this state, I will give everything I've got to ensuring that Georgia's interests are represented in the US Senate."

Ossoff said his campaign had been focused on health and the economy, and that these would be "my guiding principles as I serve".

He said it was time for Americans to "unite now to beat this virus" and provide fast economic relief for those in need.

He also mentioned Democratic Congressman John Lewis, who was a member of the House of Representatives from Georgia's 5th District.

Lewis died of pancreatic cancer aged 80 last July. He was the last survivor of the "Big Six" civil rights leaders, who included Martin Luther King Jr, and he helped organise the historic 1963 March on Washington.

US media have mostly not called the race for Ossoff, and his Republican rival has not conceded.

Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff has released a video message in which he claims victory in Georgia's second Senate race.

"It is with humility that I thank the people of Georgia for electing me to serve you in the United States Senate," he said.

We're throwing a lot of names around today that you might never have heard before.

So, who are the four candidates contesting these all-important Senate run-offs?

• Rev Raphael Warnock, 51, is a pastor at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr once preached. Along with Democratic rising star Stacey Abrams, he started the New Georgia Project, a voting rights organisation. With his projected win, he will become the first black senator for Georgia and only the 11th black senator in US history
• Kelly Loeffler, the current junior Georgia senator, is still a political novice. The 50-year-old was named to the Senate in December 2019 by Governor Brian Kemp after the sitting senator resigned. One of the wealthiest members of the Senate, Ms Loeffler is co-owner of the women's basketball team the Atlanta Dream

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

• David Perdue has served as a Georgia senator since 2015. The 70-year-old former Reebok CEO was an early supporter of Donald Trump, and has remained an ally to the president

• Jon Ossoff, 33, launched his campaign with an endorsement from civil rights hero John Lewis, who died this summer. Before taking the reins of a documentary film company, he spent five years working for a congressman. If he wins, Ossoff would be the youngest senator elected in nearly 40 years

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, EPA

Let’s turn to Washington DC, where lawmakers will certify the result of November’s presidential election in votes held in Congress later today.

For days, Republican President Donald Trump has been urging his Vice-President, Mike Pence, to block the certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory.

Pence, as president of the Senate, is due to oversee the session and declare Mr Biden the winner after the counting and confirming of electoral college votes.

Since his defeat in the election, Trump has repeatedly cast doubt on the legitimacy of the vote without evidence.

“The Vice President has the power to reject fraudulently chosen electors,” Trump wrote on Twitter on Tuesday., external

But that is not the case. Pence does not have the unilateral power to reject results submitted by states.

Pence has told Trump this ahead of the session, report both the New York Times and CNN, citing sources close to the White House.

A senior Trump adviser told CNN, external that it was unlikely that Pence would attempt to intervene in the certification process, even if he could.

But in a statement released by his campaign, Trump disputed these reports, calling them “fake news”.

The outcome of the second Georgia race remains too close to project. It's a must-win for both parties if they want to control the Senate.

But with the Republicans projected to have already lost one of the races - questions about strategy, political messaging and the influence of Trump are already surfacing.

After all, it's been 20 years since a Democrat last won a Senate seat in Georgia.

Josh Holmes, former chief of staff to the Senate's top Republican (and majority leader) Mitch McConnell, had this to say:

Meanwhile Joe Biden's chief of staff Ron Klain suggested President Trump's unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud and efforts to overturn the election result had hurt the Republican candidates.

Senator Kelly Loeffler, who is projected to have lost to Democrat Raphael Warnock, has touted her loyalty to Trump and pledged to object to Biden's victory when Congress moves to certify it later on Wednesday.

You might also remember that Trump has clashed with Republican Georgia officials over the counting of votes in the presidential election.

Image source, Reuters

As we reported earlier, Raphael Warnock is projected to have defeated Kelly Loeffler in one of Georgia’s two Senate run-offs in a major win for Democrats. Yet there has been no concession from Loeffler.

Speaking to supporters early on Wednesday morning at Georgia's Republican election headquarters, Loeffler insisted the race wasn't over yet.

“There are a lot of votes out there, as y'all know, and we have a path to victory, and we're staying on it, that's right,” she said.

Loeffler, who has been loyal to President Trump, framed the election as a battle to protect the American dream, vowing to never “stop fighting for this country” and ensuring “every Georgian has a voice in Washington”.

“I work for you, I don't owe anyone up there anything,” she said. “We're going to get this done, god bless you, thank you so much, god bless Georgia, we're going to get this done.”

Some of you may be asking - didn’t the US just hold elections?

The answer is yes, it held elections for both houses of Congress and the presidency in November last year.

Democrats retained the House of Representatives, and Joe Biden won the presidency. Control of the Senate, however, still hangs in the balance.

That’s because the outcome of the two Senate elections in Georgia were indecisive.

According to Georgia’s state rules, a winning candidate needs more than 50% of the vote and in November no one achieved that.

So the top two candidates from each race went through to a replay - what is known as a run-off.

If both Democrats win, the Senate will be evenly split 50-50, allowing incoming Democratic Vice-President Kamala Harris to cast the tie-breaking vote.

This will be crucial for the Biden administration to get through its agenda without having to rely on any Republican votes.

That’s why these run-offs are a pretty big deal. With Raphael Warnock projected to have won in one of the races, here's the picture in the Senate as things stand.

It's still very early in the morning in Washington DC, but we're pretty certain that the politicians who reside there won't have had much sleep as the Georgia results have come in.

That's a shame, as they have a very big day ahead of them on Wednesday.

Joe Biden’s victory in November’s presidential election is to be certified by lawmakers. A joint session of Congress will count and confirm votes cast by the electoral college, which is a group of officials who choose the president based on the vote result.

Some Republicans have pledged to support President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the result by formally objecting at the session, but the bid is almost certain to fail.

Trump supporters are also set to hold protests in Washington DC against the certification, with hundreds of National Guard members deployed to deal with any unrest.

Interested in how Congress certifies elections and how objections been handled in the past? Watch this video.

Nomia Iqbal
Stone Mountain, DeKalb County

Image source, Getty Images

This county on the east side of Atlanta, Georgia's capital and biggest city, has never stopped campaigning. Driving through the streets, many Biden/Harris signs are still sat on front lawns. In November more than 80% voted for the president-elect and there are plenty of signs and bus adverts for the Democratic Party Senate candidates who are hoping to repeat Biden’s success.

A steady stream of voters made their way into a local church to cast their ballots from early Tuesday morning. One voter named Paula told us with a laugh that she wouldn't normally turn out for a run-off election but that this was one was "essential".

Another voter named America, wearing a "Vote Warnock" mask, expressed a commonly heard phrase here: “We want change."

She added: "As an African-American, I am voting for my young boys.”

This is a county that Democrats hoped would deliver a huge amount of votes for them. But one Republican voter told us she saw things differently to most of her friends. She backs President Trump and said she didn’t want the “radical Democrats” to shape the country.

However, despite deep divisions, there is one point of agreement among many Georgians - that it has been surreal and exciting to know the national spotlight is on their state.

Image source, EPA

With various US media outlets projecting a victory for Raphael Warnock, all eyes are turning to the result of the second run-off contested by Democrat Jon Ossoff and Republican David Perdue.

By all accounts, this race is too early to project. The latest tally from Edison Research showed Ossoff with lead of 16,370, giving him a 50.2% to 49.8% advantage over Perdue with 98% of the expected vote counted. The Associated Press is showing a similar tally.

In its latest statement, Ossoff’s campaign appeared confident of victory, saying “we fully expect that Jon Ossoff will have won”.

“The outstanding vote is squarely in parts of the state where Jon’s performance has been dominant,” campaign manager Ellen Foster said.

But Perdue’s campaign also said it believed it would be victorious. It called for patience until the public can be “certain the results are fair and accurate and voices of Georgians are heard”.

Raphael Warnock has addressed his supporters in a video posted to Twitter.

In it, he declares victory over his Republican rival Kelly Loeffler, calling it a “historic moment” which could “only happen here” in the US.

It’s worth noting that although US networks have called the race for Warnock, Loeffler has not conceded defeat and votes are still being counted.

Here’s an excerpt of what Warnock said:

Image source, Reuters

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the Georgia Senate run-offs in the US.

These races are vitally important to both major parties and could have a huge impact on the first years of Joe Biden's presidency.

At stake is control of the US Senate.

The candidates were Democratic challengers Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, and Republican incumbents David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler.

Here are where the results stand:

• In a huge boost for the Democrats, Warnock is projected to have ousted Loeffler and won one of the seats. If confirmed, he will become the first black senator from Georgia - a slavery state in the US Civil War
• The second race between Ossoff and Perdue remains on a knife-edge. The Democrats need to take both seats to gain full control of Congress, while the Republicans only need to win one to retain the Senate
• At present, some 98% of ballots have been counted. Thousands of votes remain to be tallied in the Atlanta suburbs, including in counties that lean heavily Democrat
• Final results are expected by lunchtime on Wednesday (about 17:00 GMT)

We'll bring you all the latest here. You can also read our full story.