Sen. Raphael Warnock, a Democratic senator, was expected to win Georgia’s Senate race on Tuesday. This would send him to the upper chamber for another term and give his party an important additional seat in the majority.

The race was called by the Associated Press at 10:26 p.m. ET.

Warnock is currently the senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. He defeated Herschel Walker, a former professional football player who was supported by Trump. After neither candidate received more than 50% of the vote on Election Day, the race was moved to a second round.

The win of Warnock is another example that Democrats are defying all expectations in what was expected to be a difficult midterm year. The party ran against rising inflation and gas prices, as well as the historical trend of the incumbent president’s party losing seats during its first midterm elections.

Although Republicans will retain the majority of the House, Warnock’s victory gives Democrats a 51-seat majority within the Senate. Although technically, Democrats would have won the majority had Walker won, Tuesday’s win means that Democrats now have a majority in all committees which will enable them to quickly advance President Biden’s nominees.

Warnock won this second Senate race in less than two decades. In a special election, Warnock defeated Kelly Loeffler (R.-Ga), who also won a runoff in January 2021. He will now be eligible to serve the full six-year term he won on Tuesday, before he faces his next election.

His win is not surprising. The polls over the past weeks showed Warnock leading Walker by a narrow margin, although Democrats were aware of Georgia’s status in swing states. Although Warnock, Senator Jon Ossoff (D.Ga.), and Biden won the state’s re-election in 2020, Republicans retain a strong competitive advantage. Georgia’s governor. Brian Kemp (R), easily defeated Stacey Abrams, Democrat in Georgia’s gubernatorial elections.

The candidates have been touring the Peach State for the past few weeks with prominent Republicans, including Sens. Ted Cruz (Texas), Lindsey Graham, and Ted Cruz (S.C.), will be campaigning for Walker while former President Obama stumps for Warnock.

Trump used the 2020 Georgia Senate Runoffs to promote his false claims that the presidency election was stolen. He was absent from the campaign trail for the past month.