Raphael Warnock Defeats Herschel Walker in Georgia Senate Runoff
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Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) will retain his Senate seat and serve a six-year term after he defeated Republican Herschel Walker in Tuesday’s runoff election.
Dave Wasserman of the Cook Political Report first called the race just after 9:30 p.m. saying he had “seen enough.”
Multiple major outlets soon followed suit, including Decision Desk HQ.
The win gives Democrats a 51-49 majority in the Senate.
Walker, a former Heisman Trophy winner for the University of Georgia, was the final candidate backed by former President Donald Trump to lose a Senate seat that many Republicans viewed as winnable this year.
Warnock narrowly led Walker in last month’s general election, but he failed to cross the 50% threshold needed to avoid the runoff. Without a third candidate in the race, he prevailed Tuesday night.
Both candidates were plagued by accusations of past domestic violence during the campaign. Walker was also accused of previously paying for an abortion for the mother of one of his children and demanded she have another.
Walker spent the campaign proclaiming to be staunchly opposed to abortion.
Tuesday’s election ends a cycle for Republicans in which Trump’s influence was undeniable and ultimately calls into question his sway with voters outside of the GOP’s core base.
Trump did not rally for Walker after he and Georgia Republicans reportedly came to an agreement the former president might do more harm than good.
The former president has bragged about his endorsement record throughout the year, but candidates he helped elevate struggled nationwide in a number of crucial battleground state races that ultimately handed the Democrats an outright Senate majority.
Other candidates who had Trump’s endorsement but lost their Senate races include Kelly Tshibaka in Alaska, Blake Masters in Arizona, Don Bolduc in New Hampshire, and Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania.
