Georgia Will Have 2 Senate Elections in 2020

With the Republican majority in the U.S. Senate currently standing at 53-47, Democrats need to net four seats in the 2020 election to take control — or three, if they also win the presidency and therefore the vice presidency, the tie-breaking vote in the chamber. Democrats’ opportunities to do so expanded on Wednesday, when Georgia Sen. Johnny Isakson announced that he would resign at the end of the year. Isakson, a Republican who has served in the Senate since 2005, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2015 and cited his “mounting health challenges” as the reason for his decision.

What happens next is that Republican Gov. Brian Kemp will appoint a new senator to serve until the next regularly scheduled general election (in this case, November 2020), at which point a special election will be held to decide who serves the rest of Isakson’s term. Because Isakson was not scheduled to be up for reelection until 2022, the upshot for Democrats is that one extra Republican-held Senate seat will be on the ballot next year1 — and it comes in a state that could be competitive.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/georgia-will-now-have-two-senate-elections-in-2020/