America’s political attention is now focused not on Washington but Georgia, 700 miles south, where a Jan. 5 runoff election will decide that state’s two U.S. Senate seats—and with them, which party controls the upper chamber.

These runoffs are required by Georgia law because no Senate candidate received 50% of the vote in November. Since Republicans on Jan. 3 will have 50 Senate seats while Democrats will hold 48, the GOP can take control of the chamber by winning one of the seats. But it appears there will be little ticket splitting. Both seats are likely to go to the same party.

If Democrats win both, they will control the Senate, since Vice President Kamala Harris can break the 50-50 tie. If Republicans win both, they will keep the Senate and be in an excellent position to halt the Biden administration’s more extreme proposals.

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