Georgia voters are poised to decide one of the nation’s midterm contests as they decide whether to re-elect Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock for his first full term or replace him with Republican challenger Herschel Walker.
However, the state’s quirky election law means Tuesday could only be Round 1. Georgia needs a majority to win statewide office, and with polls suggesting a close race and a third-party candidate on the ballot, it’s possible neither Warnock nor Walker will surpass the 50% threshold. That would set off a four-week blitz before a Dec. 6 runoff that, depending on the results of other Senate contests, could repeat the 2020 election cycle when two Georgia Senate runoffs turned into a national winner’s battle for partisan control of the Senate.
The chamber is now split 50/50 between the two major parties, with Vice President Kamala Harris giving the Democrats the casting vote.
A runoff would also mean another month in which Warnock hammered Walker, a sports star-turned-politician, as unqualified and Walker would have attacked Warnock as a White House stamp.
“Raphael Warnock votes with Joe Biden 96% of the time,” Walker keeps telling voters. “He forgot about the people of Georgia.”
Warnock, who is also a senior pastor at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, responded that Walker is “not ready” and “unfit” for high office. That’s a nod to Walker’s bumpy past, from allegations of violence against his ex-wife to accusations from two women Walker once dated that he sponsored and paid for their abortions despite his public opposition to abortion rights.
Both approaches highlight candidates’ most glaring liabilities.
Amid high generational inflation and with Biden’s waning popularity in Georgia, Warnock wants voters to have a local election rather than a national referendum on Democrats at large.
Warnock, Georgia’s first black US Senator, portrays himself as a pragmatist, making deals with Republicans when they are ready and pushing Democrat-backed cost-cutting measures when they are not. Among the biggest achievements Warnock is announcing is capping the cost of insulin and other medications for Medicare beneficiaries.
“I will work with everyone to get things done for the people of Georgia,” Warnock said.
Walker, meanwhile, denies ever being paid for an abortion. And to gloss over a cascade of other stories – documented exaggerations of his business record, academic achievements and philanthropic activities; Publicly acknowledging three more children during campaign only after media reports of their existence – Walker touts his Christian faith and says his life is a story of “redemption”.
Through what he calls “stupidity,” the Republican nominee has struggled as a cultural and fiscal conservative. Walker, also black, promises to “bring people together” while calling Warnock a divisive figure on issues of race and equality. Walker justifies his attack with excerpts from Warnock’s sermons in which the pastor-senator talks about institutional racism.
Republicans used similar tactics against Warnock before his runoff victory on Jan. 5, 2021. Warnock won this contest with about 95,000 votes out of 4.5 million votes cast. More than 2 million Georgian voters cast their ballots ahead of election day.
