Georgia to hold Senate runoff following indecisive US midterm results

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
6 Dec 2022 09:00

Democrat incumbent Raphael Warnock attempts to defend his seat against Republican challenger Herschel Walker in the Georgia Senate runoff.

US voters in midterm elections (Reuters)

The race for one of Georgia’s seats in the US Senate heads to a runoff election on Tuesday after the midterm election last month failed to produce a clear winner, with the seat either flipping Republican or adding to Democrats’ slim majority in the upper chamber.

Democrat incumbent Raphael Warnock is attempting to defend his seat against Republican challenger Herschel Walker. Neither candidate was able to ensure a majority of votes during the midterm election in November, which saw Republicans take control of the House while Democrats retained control of the Senate.

Warnock, a minister, is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus and chair of the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection and the Subcommittee on Commodities, Risk Management, and Trade.

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On the other hand, Walker, a political newcomer, received endorsements from figures including former US President Donald Trump and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

The Senate race in Georgia has been the most expensive one of the election cycle, with over $300 million expected to be spent on advertisements for the whole year, Politico reported late last month.

The report said that Warnock led Senate candidates for the most money raised in this cycle, more than doubling Walker. The Democrat holds a lead of 52% support to Walker’s 48%, according to a CNN poll of likely voters released Friday.

If Warnock wins in the Georgia runoff on December 6 against Walker, that would expand the Democrats' majority to 51-49, enabling the Democratic Party to pass bills - though a few of them - that would go through with a simple majority of votes.

Democratic US President Joe Biden had said that his party will be focused on winning the Georgia Senate race.