What should I know about the candidates?
A political newcomer with significant personal baggage, Mr Walker has waged a hyper-conservative campaign with thinly outlined political agendas and strong appeals to social and cultural issues. He is best known as a running back at the University of Georgia, who won the Heisman Trophy and later found fame in the NFL.
In addition to serving in the Senate, Mr. Warnock is senior pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, which was once led by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He has been a strong advocate for his work over the past two years of the Senate, emphasizing legislation he passed alongside Republican senators and his party’s political victories for low-income Georgians and those over 65.
Both candidates easily won their primaries.
Why does Georgia have a runoff law?
Georgia’s runoff law was created in the 1960s to preserve white political power in a majority-white state and reduce the influence of black politicians, who reportedly could more easily win in a multi-candidate race by a majority of the vote the US Department of the Interior.
In 2020, races for the country’s two Senate seats ended in runoff elections. Mr. Warnock won his race, a special election after Senator Johnny Isakson resigned, and Jon Ossoff, another Democrat, won the other. Previously, Georgia Democrats had won just one in seven statewide runoffs in general or special elections since the 1990s, according to Inside Elections, a nonpartisan political newsletter.
Why is December runoff important?
In 2021, Mr. Warnock and Mr. Ossoff’s runoff victories reshaped Congress by helping Democrats win the slimmest Senate majority. That is not the case this year.
Democrats seized control of the Senate last month with Senator Catherine Cortez Masto’s victory in Nevada.
But they remain eager to keep Mr. Warnock’s seat, which would give them an outright majority in the Senate — meaning they would no longer have to rely on Vice President Kamala Harris to cast the deciding vote in the divided Senate and assert a- Seat majorities in committees. Such an absolute majority would help Democrats move legislation forward, confirm judges and presidential candidates, and provide some breathing room if a moderate party breaks its ranks.
