Unlike in 2020, Georgia’s U.S. Senate runoff won’t decide whether Chuck Schumer or Mitch McConnell is majority leader. But it will determine whether Democrats have a true majority. If they do, Vice President Kamala Harris, who has cast 26 tie-breaking votes, will have less to do—but that’s the least important implication. With an evenly divided Senate, any single Democrat can prevent legislation from passing without Republican support. Even when the holdout eventually gives in, the result may be less extreme, as when West Virginia’s Joe Manchin brought the cost of the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act down to $750 billion, plus another $1.2 trillion for a separate infrastructure piece, from its initial $6 trillion.

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