- Raphael Warnock defeated Herschel Walker within the Georgia Senate runoff election.
- Warnock has now earned a full 6-year time period; Walker had sought to knock off the incumbent Democrat.
- With Warnock’s win, Democrats could have a 51-49 majority and be much less reliant on Manchin and Sinema.
Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock defeated Republican Herschel Walker on Tuesday in Georgia’s US Senate runoff, capping off an explosive race in a state that in recent times has change into the middle of the political universe.
The victory by Warnock affords Democrats a continued foothold within the Deep South forward of the 2024 presidential election.
Polls closed within the state at 7 p.m. EST.
Within the November normal election, Warnock gained 49.4% of the vote to Walker’s 48.5% — a Libertarian candidate gained a lot of the relaxation — which compelled the runoff as no candidate hit the requisite 50% of the vote wanted for an outright victory.
The stakes couldn’t be increased
The end result of the Senate runoff didn’t have an effect on management of the Senate come January, as Democrats had already secured 50 seats, however the significance of Warnock’s victory cannot be overstated.
The senator’s victory not solely offers Democrats 51 seats forward of what may very well be a troublesome Senate map in 2024, but it surely has supplied them with extra fast advantages: the power to shelve a power-sharing settlement meant for a 50-50 Senate and add extra Democrats to committees, which in flip would permit the occasion to extra shortly verify President Joe Biden’s judicial nominees.
Within the longer run, Warnock’s win offers cowl to Democratic senators akin to Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia to interrupt with the occasion on vital votes, significantly because the weak Democrat faces a doubtlessly tough reelection bid in 2024.
And the victory may also make Senate Democrats much less reliant on Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona to move laws within the higher chamber.
The candidates
Warnock, the senior pastor on the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, was elected to the Senate in January 2021 alongside fellow Democrat Jon Ossoff.
Within the evenly-split Senate, Warnock’s vote has been important in passing a number of key items of laws, together with the American Rescue Plan and the Inflation Discount Act, which each handed on party-line votes via the reconciliation course of.
Walker — a former College of Georgia soccer standout who gained the Heisman Trophy in 1982 and went on to play within the NFL from 1986 to 1997 — has been a identified amount within the state for many years.
The Wrightsville, Georgia, native was closely touted and endorsed by Trump early on within the race, which helped him breeze to a simple victory within the Republican major throughout Might.
Walker has been extremely vital of Warnock’s document, accusing the senator of siding too closely with Biden and looking for to tie him to inflation and different financial issues throughout the nation.
However the Republican was dogged by allegations that he paid for girls to have abortions prior to now, which he firmly denied. Walker’s enterprise ties had additionally come into query through the course of the marketing campaign.
Voting historical past in Georgia
Whereas Democrats vastly overperformed expectations within the midterms on the nationwide degree — retaining their Senate majority whereas mitigating losses within the Home regardless of Biden’s middling approval rankings — statewide candidates in Georgia not named Warnock had been unsuccessful on the poll field in November.
Stacey Abrams — the breakout star of the 2018 midterms who almost gained the Georgia gubernatorial race that yr — misplaced in a rematch in opposition to Gov. Brian Kemp, arising brief to the Republican by almost 300,000 votes.
And Democratic candidates up and down the statewide poll, from the nominees for lieutenant governor and lawyer normal to secretary of state and insurance coverage commissioner, all misplaced their respective races — displaying that whereas Biden might have gained the state over then-President Donald Trump in 2020, Georgia has nonetheless largely been fertile terrain for Republicans over the previous twenty years.
In January 2021, Warnock gained the particular election runoff to fill the remaining time period of GOP Sen. Johnny Isakson, who in December 2019 stepped down from his seat for well being causes. (Isakson died in December 2021.)
Earlier than Warnock and Ossoff gained their races final yr, a Democrat hadn’t gained a US Senate seat in Georgia since Zell Miller in 2000.
Biden’s 2020 victory in Georgia marked the primary time {that a} Democratic presidential nominee had gained the state since Invoice Clinton in 1992.
The cash race
In accordance with OpenSecrets, Warnock had raised $150.5 million, spent almost $126.2 million, and had roughly $29.7 million in money readily available, as of November 16. Walker had raised $58.3 million, spent $48.5 million, and had $9.8 million left to spend, as of November 16.
As of December 5, a number of dozen political motion committees, tremendous PACs, occasion committees, and politically energetic nonprofit organizations had collectively spent over $234 million advocating for or in opposition to the candidates.
The race ranked among the many costliest Senate races in US historical past.
