In an historic election held amid a global pandemic, seven African Americans were vying for seats in the U.S. Senate, including Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) who was declared an early winner by major news organizations.
“New Jersey, I’m once again humbled by the faith you’ve placed in me,” Booker tweeted Tuesday night. “Thank you for standing with me and allowing me the honor of representing my home state in Washington.”
In Michigan, Iraq combat veteran John James, an African American running as a Republican, lost in a close race against Democrat Gary Peters. At one point late in the tabulations, James had 49.3 percent of the vote while Peters was close behind with 48.8 percent.
In Georgia, Democrat Rev. Dr. Raphael Warnock, another African American, is headed for a run off in January against Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler, a Republican.
Warnock and Loeffler were the two highest vote getters in that race on Tuesday, but neither received 50 percent of the vote, which is required to avoid the runoff.
Warnock was optimistic and back on Twitter Wednesday morning, seeking funds nationwide for his runoff. He is the senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was pastor prior to his tragic assassination in Memphis.
“There is a lot of uncertainty around this election, but we mustn’t lose hope,” Warnock tweeted. “If we stand in love, love will win every time.”
In the 2020 election, during which African Americans battled high unemployment and disproportionate health issues related to COVID-19, the Deep South fielded its greatest number of Senate candidates from reconstruction.
The four other African Americans seeking seats in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday’s ballot were:
Mississippi’s Mike Espy, a Democrat; South Carolina’s Jaime Harrison, an associate chairman of the Democratic National Committee; Louisiana’s Adrian Perkins, the mayor of Shreveport, and Marquita Bradshaw, a community activist from Memphis.
All four were trailing their opponents in the U.S. Senate race on Wednesday.
“We didn’t get the result at the ballot box that we wanted, but we showed courage and determination,” Harrison tweeted. “We brought hope back to South Carolina. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.”
The Blue Wave predicted by some political pundits did not materialize Election Day.
Overall, Democrats had a disappointing night in the battle for Senate control, but it was too soon for Republicans to take a victory lap Wednesday, although they brushed back multiple challengers to protect their now teetering majority.
Key races in North Carolina, Maine and Michigan remained undecided a day following the election.
Meanwhile in the U.S. House, Democrats drove toward extending their control of the House for two more years, but with a potentially shrunken majority as they lost at least seven incumbents and failed to oust any Republican lawmakers in initial returns.
By midmorning Wednesday, Democrats’ only gains were two North Carolina seats vacated by GOP incumbents after a court-ordered remapping made the districts more Democratic.
Though they seemed likely to retain House control, their performance was an unexpected disappointment for the party, which hoped for modest gains of perhaps 15 seats.
(This story includes a report from The Associated Press.)
