Raphael Warnock has secured a Senate seat for the Democrats and our live coverage of the Georgia run-off ends here. But there's still plenty of BBC reporting and analysis to read.

• Find out more about what happened on election night
• Here's Anthony Zurcher's analysis of why Warnock's win actually matters
• Or learn more about Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock

Tonight's coverage was brought to you by Marianna Brady, Brandon Drenon, Madeline Halpert, Gary O'Donoghue, Kayla Epstein, Rebecca Hartmann and Anthony Zurcher.

Thanks for joining us!

November's midterm elections are officially over. Warnock's projected victory gives the Democrats a 51 seat majority in the Senate. Republicans have 49 seats.

Learn more about why that extra seat could help the Democrats and Joe Biden's legislative agenda.

Kayla Epstein
BBC Digital Reporter

Image source, Getty Images

It was a great year for Georgia Republicans not named Herschel Walker.

Governor Brian Kemp defeated his high-profile Democratic opponent, Stacey Abrams. The Republican secretary of state Brad Raffensperger bested his challenger Bee Nguyen. A similar tale played out in other races for statewide office. Except for US Senate.

Walker finished behind incumbent Senator Raphael Warnock by about 40,000 votes in the November general election. Not only that – about 200,000 voters backed the Republican Kemp, but crossed the aisle to vote for Warnock, a Democrat.

Walker came with a significant amount of personal controversy that made him a weaker candidate than his fellow Georgia Republicans.

Two women have come forward to say he paid for their abortions, despite Walker supporting a ban on the procedure. Multiple women, including Walker’s ex-wife, have made domestic abuse allegations against him over the years and in the waning days of the race.

Image source, Getty Images

During the run-off phase, Walker also made a series of gaffes that his critics have eagerly clipped into viral moments. During one November appearance, he riffed on the 1980s supernatural horror movie “Fright Night,” and told the crowd, “I don’t want to be a vampire anymore, I want to be a werewolf.”

The remark earned Walker widespread ridicule - even from former president Barack Obama. "As far as I'm concerned, he can be anything he wants to be - a vampire or wearwolf - but not a United States senator," he said at a rally on Saturday.

In a typical election year, the popularity of Republicans like Kemp should have buoyed Walker’s performance.

And with Warnock's projected victory tonight, it's clear Walker could not hold his own without more popular Republicans appearing above him on the ballot.

Democrat Raphael Warnock wins the Senate run-off race and keeps his seat in the state of Georgia.

Defeated Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker thanked his supporters and pledged to never "stop fighting for Georgia" in his concession speech.

President Joe Biden said he has called Raphael Warnock to congratulate him on his win. In a tweet, Biden said Georgia voters on Tuesday had "stood up for our democracy" and "sent a good man back to the Senate".

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York also celebrated Warnock's win, calling it a "victory for Georgia, and a victory for democracy and against MAGA Republican extremist policies", a reference to former Republican President Donald Trump's slogan Make America great again. Trump reportedly encouraged Walker to run for Senate in the first place.

If you're just joining us in our coverage of Georgia's senate run-off race, here's what happened tonight:

• Democrat Raphael Warnock is the projected winner, beating his Republican opponent by a little more than a percentage point with 95% of precincts reporting

• In an emotional victory speech, Warnock thanked Georgians, God and his family, saying "the people have spoken"
• In a speech just moments before, Republican Herschel Walker pledged to "keep fighting for Georgia" despite his loss
• Georgia election officials said earlier the December run-off election marked "record turnout"

Amid cheers and applause, the re-elected Democrat Raphael Warnock reminded the jubilant crowd that just because he won tonight doesn't mean voter suppression has ended.

"It simply means that you the people have decided that your voices will not be silenced," he said.

In Warnock's closing remarks he reiterated his campaign's message about lowering the cost of prescription drugs, criminal justice reform, and rights for women.

Moments before he walked off the stage Warnock said, to an explosion of applause, "you've got me for six more years". He was then handed his two young children, held them in his arms, and was joined by other supporters on stage.

As a senator, Warnock will serve six years, until 2028.

Democrat Raphael Warnock began his victory speech by thanking Georgians, his mother and God.

After "hard-fought campaigns" he said, it was his honour to "utter the four most powerful four words in a democracy: 'The people have spoken.'"

He said voting was a "kind of prayer for the world we desire for ourselves and our children," adding that Georgians had been "praying with your lips and your legs, with your hands and your feet, your heads and your hearts."

He gave a special thank you to his mother, who he said grew up in the 1950s "picking someone else's cotton" in Georgia. But tonight she "helped pick her youngest son to be a United States senator", he said.

Read more about Senator Warnock here.

Image source, Getty Images

Democrat Raphael Warnock has just stepped on the stage to deliver a victory speech minutes after his Republican opponent Herschel Walker conceded the race.

Defeated Republican Herschel Walker addressed the crowd in a brief concession speech that lasted less than five minutes.

"I'm never going to stop fighting for Georgia," Walker said.

Walker thanked those gathered in support and said that despite his many athletic achievements, his run for Senate was the "best thing I've ever done in my whole entire life".

Image source, Getty Images

Republican Herschel Walker has started his speech with a list of thanks - for Jesus, his daughters, and his campaign team - moments after his defeat was announced.

Rebecca Hartmann
Reporting from Georgia

Cheers from supporters erupted across the dance floor when Raphael Warnock was predicted to be re-elected as Senator.

Warnock supporters have been glued to a projector showing cable news above the stage all night, but the excited atmosphere has been growing all night.

Now the stage is packed with supporters dancing with their arms around each other as the crowd awaits Senator Warnock's speech.

Image source, Getty Images

Kayla Epstein
BBC Digital Reporter

After campaigning non-stop for two years, Raphael Warnock can breathe a sigh of relief.

He's projected to defeat Republican Herschel Walker after coming several thousand votes shy of an outright majoriity in the first round of the election last month.

For Democrats in Georgia and in Washington DC, Warnock’s win is a major success story. They will now have outright control of the US Senate, allowing them to navigate around intra-party roadblocks and hold control of powerful committees.

For Warnock himself, it means the pastor can rest easy in a six year term until the 2028 election cycle, after seeing his name appear on a ballot a remarkable five times since 2020.

Warnock traversed the state extensively in the final weeks of the campaign, appearing alongside the likes of Barack Obama and Spike Lee to drum up excitement.

Days after the run-off became official, he gathered supporters beneath a mural of the late congressman and civil rights hero John Lewis, whose legacy Warnock often invoked on the trail.

“I've done this before. We've done this before. We know how to win a run-off,” Warnock told a crowd that was fired up despite the rain.

It now appears that he did just that.

Nothing has really changed. Democrats already held a majority in the Senate after maintaining seats in key swing states and flipping another seat in Pennsylvania in the 8 November midterm elections. But Warnock's projected victory gives Democrats one extra seat and a bit of breathing room.

There are a total of 100 seats in the US Senate and Democrats are now projected to hold 51 of them. Republicans have 49 seats.

Warnock's projected win has essentially eliminated the reliance on Democratic Vice-President Kamala Harris to serve as a tie-breaking vote, as Democrats needed before with a 50-50 split in the upper chamber.

A win for Democrats offers the party other benefits. For instance, it would give them a majority on Senate committees, allowing them to more easily approve nominations of judges to the federal bench. It would also help Democrats pass legislation without every single member on board. You can read more on why this race matters here.

Crowds at the Warnock watch party headquarters erupted into song and dance as media outlets began to project the race in his favour. DJ Khaled's All I Do Is Win was blasted on the speakers and the crowd sang and danced along.

Image source, Getty Images

Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock is projected to defeat Republican candidate Herschel Walker in the hotly contested Senate run-off race with 94% of the expected vote counted, according to Edison Research.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from New York

At this point in the tally, Democrat Raphael Warnock appears to be pulling ahead, but the race is still very close. Thousands of ballots have yet to be reported.

Warnock is coming into the run-off with an advantage, after he placed first in the general election. But in order to keep that lead, he must keep his base enthused and convince the 200,000 voters who split their tickets between him and Republican Governor Brian Kemp in November not to return to the conservative fold.

Warnock needs his strongholds in the Democratic and swing counties around Atlanta to turn out in large numbers, and his team leaned into an early voting strategy, attempting to bank as many votes ahead of election day as possible.

On the other side of the coin, Herschel Walker needs to claw back some of the voters who deserted him in the first round of the election. Kemp has campaigned with Warnock during the run-off period in an effort to accomplish this feat.

Walker needs a strong election day turnout, and a victory would require him to perform better in many rural counties where he lagged behind Kemp in the vote.

With roughly 84% of the precincts fully reporting, Democrat Raphael Warnock has a lead of 29,000 votes, according to the Georgia secretary of state's election website.

BBC's US partner CBS News suggests the race is currently leaning Democratic.

Herschel Walker's campaign team and adoring fans are camped out at the College Football Hall of Fame tonight in Atlanta.

Votes are still being counted and though the elections website occasionally shows Walker take the lead in the incomplete vote count - our experts say Warnock still has a better shot.

However, optimism has not dwindled inside the sporting venue, judging by the smiling faces, turned serious only for a moment of patriotism. Team Walker led the crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by a live rendition of the Star Spangled Banner and a recording of Only in America as onlookers joined in.

Image source, Getty Images