Heavy early voting totals meant that Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Herschel Walker needed a big election day turnout Tuesday in order to defeat Sen. Raphael Warnock in their runoff. That turnout never quite materialized for the former UGA football star, as the race was called by national media at around 10:30PM with Warnock leading by about 1.5 percent.
Buoyed by that early vote and perhaps aided by a rainy and cold election day in most of Georgia, Warnock jumped out to an early lead that tightened as the night went along. But pundits pointed out warning signs for Walker in rural counties, where Warnock managed to very slightly close the lead from the November vote totals. Even when Walker took the lead back at around 8:45PM, worries remained as huge vote totals were still out in heavily Democratic strongholds in DeKalb and Fulton Counties. Once those numbers started to come in about an hour later Warnock surged back into the lead where he remained for the rest of the evening. He will now serve a full six-year term in the U.S. Senate.
The result will give Democrats a 51-49 edge in the U.S. Senate. The race was the most expensive of the 2022 cycle, with more than $400 million, much of it from out of state, poured into supporting the candidates. All that money resulted in record turnout, with 3.4 million votes as of Tuesday evening a record for a midterm runoff in the state.
Walker conceded at around 11:00PM, telling the audience gathered at his election party that running for office in his home state was the thing he was “most proud of” in his life. “Never stop dreaming,” he told supporters, “I want you to believe in America and continue to believe in the Constitution and believe in our elected officials.”
A Republican insider told InsiderAdvantage, “Given all the obstacles it is a miracle he (Walker) has done this well. Outspent three to one and made the SCOURGE of Hollywood, mainstream media, and the GOP snobs headed by Mitch McConnell…”
We’ll have much more on the Warnock win, the numbers that lead him there, and what the result means going forward in coming days.
