Georgia Senate victories boost Biden’s climate programme

Success in both races hands the Democrats control of the Senate and gives the president-elect much greater room to manoeuvre

President-elect Joe Biden’s chances of restoring American credibility and leadership in climate change just became substantially more likely with the Democratic Party’s two stunning victories in the Georgia Senate runoff elections on 5 January. Biden and the Democrats now control both chambers of Congress, having maintained their majority in the House of Representatives in the November election and holding a razor-thin majority in the Senate as well. The Republican and Democratic parties each have 50 senators, but vice president-elect Kamala Harris has the deciding vote in the case of a tie. This will give the Biden administration far greater latitude to implement its domestic climate change