Ossoff holds Georgia Senate seat, fends off Republican Collins

Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff is heading back to Washington. The Democrat defeated Republican Rep. Mike Collins to keep his Senate seat, according to The Associated Press, closing out a race that turned into a referendum on both men's perceived extremes.

Voters who showed up Tuesday were far more suspicious of Collins' politics than Ossoff's. Only about 4 in 10 Senate voters in Georgia called Ossoff's views “too extreme,” while roughly half said the same of Collins. Ossoff had accused Collins of staffing his office with white nationalists — a charge Collins has not accepted — while Trump and other Republicans argued Ossoff's stances on immigration and the economy sit outside the American mainstream.

Georgia was one of six states where polls shut at 7 p.m., and it tends to move fast. In 2024, the state's count hit the halfway mark during the 8 p.m. hour and was 90% complete by 10:21 p.m. On the same night, AP called Georgia's presidential contest for Trump at 12:58 a.m.

The Peach State wasn't the only stop on the map. Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz won Florida's 20th Congressional District, beating Republican Brent Andersen and securing a 12th term after switching districts — a move that paid off. She is the first Jewish congresswoman elected from Florida. AP declared her the winner at 7:09 p.m. EST.

In Virginia, Democratic Sen. Mark Warner locked up a fourth term, defeating retired Army Maj. Gen. Bert Mizusawa, an Afghanistan war veteran. Warner, vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, won in a state packed with federal workers who took the brunt of Trump's push to shrink the government workforce. AP called it at 7:00 p.m. EST.

Immigration hung over the whole night. About 6 in 10 voters said they disapprove of how ICE is handling its job and that the administration's enforcement actions have gone too far, with roughly 7 in 10 calling enforcement a crucial or major factor in their congressional vote. Attention now shifts to the remaining races, with polls closing at 7:30 p.m. in North Carolina, Ohio and West Virginia — states that also count quickly.