The Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, seen right here throughout a marketing campaign occasion in Georgia on Jan. 4, had been sworn in as U.S. senators by Vice President Harris on Wednesday afternoon.
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Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
The Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, seen right here throughout a marketing campaign occasion in Georgia on Jan. 4, had been sworn in as U.S. senators by Vice President Harris on Wednesday afternoon.
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
Updated at 5:06 p.m. ET
Democrats formally took management of the Senate as Georgia’s two new Democratic senators-elect had been sworn in Wednesday afternoon, cementing a 50-50 cut up, with Vice President Harris serving because the tiebreaking vote in her new position as president of the the Senate.
Harris administered the oath of workplace to Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff hours after her personal swearing-in.
The pair of Democratic victories within the Jan. 5 Senate runoff elections gave the occasion management of each the White House and Congress, with the thinnest of majorities within the higher chamber.
Harris additionally swore in Democrat Alex Padilla, the previous California secretary of state, to fill Harris’ personal Senate seat. He was appointed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat.
“The chair lays earlier than the Senate … a certificates of appointment to fill the emptiness created by the resignation of former Sen. Kamala D. Harris of California,” she mentioned, laughing, earlier than including, “Yeah, that was very bizarre.”
With the brand new senators’ swearing-in full, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., turns into the Senate majority chief and Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the minority chief. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. , grew to become the brand new president professional tempore of the Senate, inserting him third within the line of succession to the presidency. He beforehand held this place from 2012 to 2015.
Details of a power-sharing settlement are nonetheless being developed by Schumer and McConnell to put out sensible points concerning the chamber’s operations going ahead.
A Democratic majority, nonetheless slender, will allow the occasion to set the chamber’s legislative agenda and make it simpler to verify President Biden’s Cabinet picks.
Georgia’s Secretary of State’s workplace certified the results of the runoff elections the day earlier than Biden’s inauguration.
Biden was the primary Democratic presidential candidate to win Georgia since 1992. Ossoff and Warnock’s wins had been additionally history-making. Ossoff is the state’s first Jewish senator and Warnock is Georgia’s first Black senator and the primary Black Democratic senator from the South.
Padilla’s appointment can be historic: He is the primary Latino to signify California within the U.S. Senate.
