Warnock Projected Winner In GA U.S. Senate Runoff

GEORGIA — U.S. Sen. Rev. Raphael Warnock, the Democratic incumbent, has been elected to his first full term to the U.S. Senate, according to projections made by NBC News and CNN.

Republican challenger Herschel Walker was vying to unseat Warnock.

Excluding the U.S. Senate race, Republicans led all of the state races in the Nov. 8 general election. Warnock is the sole projected Democratic winner in the midterm election.

Patch will update with the latest unofficial results from the Secretary of State’s office as they come in. Here are the vote totals as of Wednesday morning, with all 159 counties completely reporting:

Walker: 1,1,719,376 votes

Warnock: 1,814,827 votes

Democrats had already cemented control of the U.S. Senate but the Georgia race would decide whether it would be an even 50-50 split or a 51-49 Democratic majority. With Warnock's projected win, Democrats have 51 seats in the Senate while Republicans hold 49.

Neither Warnock nor Walker met the 50 percent plus one vote threshold to avoid a runoff in the Nov. 8 general election. Warnock garnered 49.42 percent of the votes while Walker gathered 48.52 percent.

Libertarian Chase Oliver did not make it into the runoff with slightly more than 2 percent of the votes.

Voters shattered early voting records for the General Election with over two weeks allotted for advance voting. Early voting was more limited for the runoff with a mandatory five days between Nov.28-Dec.2 although some counties offered slightly longer periods and were also allowed to offer early voting on Saturday after a court challenge. Still, over a million Georgians voted early and the state set a new single-day record for early voting when just over 303,000 voters cast their ballots Nov.28.

Warnock vs. Walker In The General Election

Warnock is a Savannah native and is senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. He ran his campaign on promises of advocating for the LGBTQ+ community, restoring reproductive rights to women, making bipartisan efforts and ending mass incarceration.

Walker is a retired NFL player and businessman from Wrightsville, who stood on the grounds he would lower taxes and gas prices, create more jobs, fight to minimize government regulations on small businesses and address immigration, if elected.

The two opponents were invited by the Atlanta Press Club to participate in a debate ahead of Election Day in the runoff but neither candidate confirmed their involvement, leading the debate to be canceled.

It would have been the third debate for the U.S. Senate race, with Walker only participating in one.

Walker and Warnock spent months going toe-to-toe with each other on the road to Washington, D.C., wading through abortion allegations and abuse allegations in the weeks leading up to the general election.

The two first debated on Oct. 14 in Savannah in a debate hosted by Nexstar Media Group. Oliver said he was not invited to the debate.

Warnock and Walker were expected to face off again in an Oct. 16 debate with Oliver, but Walker declined the invitation. He was represented by an empty podium in the debate that was hosted by the Atlanta Press Club.

Warnock was quick to indicate Walker’s absence when asked how he would move forward bills that stalled in his first two years as a U.S. senator.

“I think it’s important to point out that my opponent, Herschel Walker, is not here; and, I think that half of being a senator is showing up,” he said. “That’s half of life, and I have shown up for the people of Georgia time and time again, especially on this issue of voting rights.”

Warnock said he would continue lending his efforts toward the passing of the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2021, a voting rights bill that was introduced Aug. 17, 2021, by Rep. Terri Sewell. It passed the House, with 219-212 votes, but stalled in the Senate.

In the second round of the debate, candidates could ask each other questions.

During Walker’s campaign, women have accused him of being violent and threatening. Two women have accused Walker of encouraging and paying for their abortions, according to an Associated Press report.

Warnock asked Walker “why he thinks he’s ready to represent the people of Georgia and if he’s ready to face up to this history of violence as he talks about representing us in the Senate.”

According to the Associated Press report, Walker denied the abortion allegations.

There was no third debate for the trio.