JACKSONVILLE, Fla — CORRECTION: Republicans haven't lost a runoff election for US Senate since 1992.
Some political science experts are calling Georgia a purple state in this year's historic election.
Joe Biden with a slight lead in the state is on track to become the first Democrat to win a presidential election in Georgia in nearly 30 years.
In a year with record turnout, experts say both parties will work hard to get voters involved in the runoffs for two US Senate seats, which could make an enormous difference for the President-elect's agenda.
“Control of the Senate could largely come down to these two runoffs," Dr. Mandi Bailey, political science professor at Valdosta State University is calling this a fascinating fallout from this election.
Bailey says historically republicans have won every runoff race for US Senate in Georgia since Bill Clinton was elected President in 1992.
“What we’re likely to see this time around, if [Joe] Biden’s successful, it’s entirely possible you could come up with two Democratic senators from Georgia,” Dr. Bailey said.
Dr. Bailey estimates the four candidates for Georgia’s two Senate seats will pour many resources into a January run-off.
Jim Wiley, assistant political science professor at Coastal College of Georgia in Brunswick, says usually incumbents have the advantage.
“The dynamics will probably be a lot different,” Wiley said. “Based on past experience I expect the Republicans to win, partly because their voters are used to coming out for extra elections than Democratic voters."
Wiley is surprised by the record turnout for this past election.
Which he says was due to work done by Democrats to increase voter registration. He says Stacey Abrams’ did a lot of work following her loss to Brian Kemp in the Georgia governor’s race.
He says both parties will rely on getting people back to the polls in two months.
Bailey thinks with so much at stake the state could continue to see record turnout.
“Typically, we could look at runoff elections at off-year elections as sort of low stimulus elections, right? This is certainly not the case,” Dr. Bailey said.
The deadline to register is Dec. 7, the runoff election will be held on Jan. 5 according to state election officials.