“Almost no chance it’s called on election night,” said Kerwin Swint, a political scientist at Kennesaw State University.

Adding to the drama, just as in November, the first returns coming in on election night are likely to favor Republicans, with Democrats gaining ground as mail-in and absentee ballots are counted in subsequent days.

“And then here comes the lawyers on horseback,” predicted Rick Dent, a political consultant who worked for the late Zell Miller, the last Democratic Senator from Georgia.