Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock are the two newest members of the Senate and that’s huge

While we’re all still processing the national horror and tragedy that was Jan. 6, there’s still cause for celebration and hope. The Congress was not stopped. It affirmed that Joe Biden is the president-elect and he will take office on Jan. 20.

As consequentially, there are two new Democratic senators—Democrats who flipped the state of Georgia and flipped control of the Senate. Rev. Raphael Warnock was declared the winner of his seat before day’s end Tuesday, and Jon Ossoff was declared victorious Wednesday afternoon, with his margin of victory large enough to preclude a recount. By Jan. 22, the state’s deadline for certifying the results, the Senate will be Democratic.

To say it will be narrowly Democratic is an understatement; the Senate will be tied. But with Vice President Kamala Harris to break ties, Sen. Chuck Schumer will be Senate Majority Leader. It’s hard to know at this point how profoundly changed that body will be by both the massive quakes in both Georgia and Washington, D.C., but we’re already seeing the reverberations. The momentum for holding Trump and Republicans accountable is growing, and Schumer is stepping up. Republicans, for the moment, are chastened by the events of the last 48 hours. There’s actually valid hope for an aggressive Democratic Senate that will fight for a Biden-Harris agenda of progressive policies. Ossoff and Warnock and the voters of Georgia, as well as all the volunteers and grassroots donors across the nation who helped, have shown the way.