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Republican Saxby Chambliss won Georgia’s Senate runoff
Tuesday, denying Democrats a chance to reach a filibuster-proof majority next
year. Democratic state Rep. Jim Martin was unable to overcome
the fact that he did not have President-elect Obama on the ballot in the
runoff. He trailed the incumbent 61-39 with 71 percent of precincts reporting
when the race was called.
Chambliss’s victory leaves Minnesota as the lone
outstanding Senate contest. A recount is underway in the razor-thin race
between GOP Sen. Norm Coleman and Democrat Al Franken.
Should Franken win, Democrats will get to 59 seats.
Either way, they hope to reach the 60-seat threshold in 2010.
The electoral map, which was already in the Democrats’
favor this coming cycle, began looking even better for them Tuesday after Sen.
Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) announced that he will not seek reelection.
Martin struggled on his own in the runoff after finishing
three points behind Chambliss in the general election. In that race,
Chambliss wound up with 49.8 percent of the vote — just shy of the majority
required to avoid a runoff — while Martin took 46.8 percent.
The former state House member and lieutenant governor
nominee from Atlanta did not fit the profile of other Democratic challengers in
the Deep South, as he supported abortion rights and called himself a
“progressive.”
Early voting indicated a strong drop-off in
African-American turnout in the race, which was seen as a result of the lack of
Obama’s name on the ballot and, perhaps, his failure to appear with Martin.
Obama did cut ads for Martin but declined to campaign
with him during his presidential transition period.
Chambliss was first elected in 2002 after a heated
campaign against Sen. Max Cleland (D).
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