With slim margin, Perdue/Ossoff race remains too close to call

ATLANTA — With one candidate in quarantine, the race for one of two U.S. Senate seats is expected to come down to the wire.

Republican Sen. David Perdue is hoping to win re-election against Democrat Jon Ossoff. His term officially ended on Sunday. The winner of the runoff will be sworn in later this month.

Perdue remained out of the spotlight Tuesday after he was exposed to COVID-19 last week. So far, he has tested negative for the virus.

[READ: Raphael Warnock defeats Kelly Loeffler to become senator, ABC projects]

Georgia’s senior senator was elected in 2014 after former Sen. Saxby Chambliss retired. Perdue has remained a strong supporter of President Donald Trump.

As of early Wednesday morning, Ossoff had taken the lead in the race.

“When all the votes are counted we fully expect that Jon Ossoff will have won this election to represent Georgia in the United States Senate. The outstanding vote is squarely in parts of the state where Jon’s performance has been dominant. We look forward to seeing the process through in the coming hours and moving ahead so Jon can start fighting for all Georgians in the U.S. Senate,” Ossoff’s campaign said in a statement.

Perdue’s campaign released their own statement, saying they believed Sen. Perdue would win:

[EXPLAINER: Georgia’s role in balance of power for U.S. Senate]

“As we’ve said repeatedly over the last several weeks and as recently as this evening, this is an exceptionally close election that will require time and transparency to be certain the results are fair and accurate and the voices of Georgians are heard. We will mobilize every available resource and exhaust every legal recourse to ensure all legally cast ballots are properly counted. We believe in the end, Senator Perdue will be victorious.”

As Perdue remained in quarantine, Ossoff campaigned in Atlanta’s northern suburbs Tuesday, saying a win for him is not just important for the state, but for the whole country.

Ossoff told Channel 2′s Lori Wilson that he wants Georgians to know he can make life better for everyone starting with more COVID-19 relief.

“The United States Senate right now is blocking $2,000 relief checks for the people that President-elect Biden, President Trump, and I and Rev. Warnock support. That’s why yesterday I spoke with Joe Biden about those $2,000 checks. We’re ready to move on those immediately,” Ossoff said.

[READ: Raphael Warnock will be Georgia’s first Black U.S. senator, only 1 of 11 ever]

Both sides agree that it will be a tight race Tuesday.

The race comes just two weeks before President-elect Joe Biden is set to take office at 46th President of the United States.

In a sign of the importance of the dual Senate races, Biden, Harris, Trump and Vice President Mike Pence have traveled to Georgia in the days leading up to the election to rally supporters and activate their respective bases.

No major issues reported at metro polling sites so far for Senate runoff

Cox Media Group