NEW YORK, November 9. /TASS/. Neither candidate managed to garner the necessary amount of votes to win a US Senate seat from the state of Georgia, Gabriel Sterling, a Georgia elections official, said on Wednesday.

"While county officials are still doing the detailed work on counting the votes, we feel it is safe to say there will be a runoff for the US Senate here in Georgia slated for December 6," he wrote on Twitter.

Under Georgia state law, a candidate seeking a senatorial seat needs to secure more than 50% of the vote. Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock is being challenged by Republican Herschel Walker. Libertarian Chase Oliver managed to win 2.1% of the vote, which prevented either candidate from crossing the 50% mark. Oliver will drop out of the race. As some media outlets reported ahead of the elections, Georgia is likely to become a key state for Democrats and Republicans in determining control of the Senate.

The United States held its midterm congressional elections on Tuesday to elect all 435 members of the House of Representatives and a third of the Senate. Citizens will also elect the governors of 36 states and three US overseas territories. According to local analysts, it is possible that the ruling Democratic Party might lose control of both the House and the Senate by yielding it to the Republican opposition. Early results show the Republicans’ success in winning the House of Representatives, but the Senate is still up for grabs.