The Georgia Senate Runoff and its Impact
December 13, 2022
If you care about politics at all or have Mr. Garry as a teacher, you are probably wondering why some Georgia Senate election is being talked about so much. Here’s all you need to know about the Georgia Runoff and how it will affect our government.
Georgia is a notorious swing state, so everyone is always watching to see how they vote. In the 2020 presidential election, Georgia had one of the closest races, with Joe Biden ultimately winning by about 10,000 votes. Its 2020 Senate Elections were no different, with both of the races going into runoffs and eventually being won by the two Democrats. So when all the smoke cleared from the 2022 midterms and Georgia had Democrat candidate Raphael Warnock with 49.4% of votes and Herschel Walker with 48.5% of votes, no one was surprised. However, it was the circumstances around it that made this so impactful. The Senate has famously been split right down the middle for most of 2021 with 48 Democrats, 50 Republicans, and 2 Independents who caucus with the Democrats. Current Vice President Kamala Harris was the tie-breaking vote, so the Democrats had a slight upper hand, but things still took quite a long time to get done because of this 50/50 split. When midterms came to a close this year, there were 50 Democrats and 49 Republicans, meaning the Georgia election would decide whether the Senate was put back into gridlock hell or into Democrats’ control fully. With the stakes fairly high, Georgia went into a runoff.
Let’s learn a little more about our candidates. Herschel Walker is the Republican candidate, who is truly a jack of all trades. He is most known for playing in the NFL for 15 years, but Walker is also an Olympic athlete, as well as an undefeated mixed martial arts fighter. Walker was appointed chair of the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition by President Trump. He was diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) when he was a child and, as a result, he is very openly dedicated to helping others with mental health struggles. Walker is also very public about his support for the Armed Forces and even almost joined the Marines before his football career. You’ll find Democrat Raphael Warnock is much tamer compared to his opponent. He is running for reelection, having been one of Georgia’s current Senators. He is the youngest pastor to serve as Senior Pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlantic, which Church Reverend Martin Luther King preached. Warnock serves on all types of committees in congress ranging from Agriculture to Transportation.
The runoff was declared by Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and was set to occur on December 6, 2022. A record-breaking number of early voters turned up on Friday, December 2nd. Over 353,000 Georgia residents casted their ballots making it the single biggest early voting day ever. And in the end, all these votes came to 51.14% of the votes for Raphael Warnock and 48.6% for Herschel Walker. And with that the wait is finally over to see who controls the Senate as Warnock snatches the 51st democrat seat, giving the democratic party the lead.
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