Warnock, Walker Headed To Runoff In 2022 Georgia U.S. Senate Race

GEORGIA – Incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker, his challenger, are heading to a runoff, both NBC News and CNN projected Wednesday.

Neither candidate cleared the 50 percent plus one threshold of votes needed to avoid a runoff in the 2022 midterm election. The runoff will be held Dec. 6.

The race is one of three that will decide which party takes control of the U.S. Senate. Senate races in Arizona and Nevada remain undecided.

Warnock faced off against Walker, a former football star. Chase Oliver was the libertarian candidate in the race.

Below are the latest unofficial results as of 12:06 p.m. with all 159 counties reporting:

Warnock: 1,937,564 votes (49.42%)

Walker: 1,902,399 votes (48.52%)

Oliver: 81,006 votes (2.07%)

The Candidates

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.

He won the Democratic nomination with 96 percent of the votes in the primaries.

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.

He won the Republican nomination with 68.18 percent of the votes in the primaries.

Oliver, a businessman from Atlanta, based his campaign on ending wars and establishing peace, building up small businesses, ending mandatory minimum sentencing in the criminal justice system and reforming the immigration system.

Facing the Opposition

Walker and Warnock have spent months going toe-to-toe with each other on the road to Washington, D.C., wading through abortion allegations and abuse allegations.

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.

Oliver expressed his frustration with the two-party system in the debate, calling it a “hyper-partisanship.” He accused Democrats and Republicans of being more attentive to talking to people than “getting the work done.”

He and Warnock went back and forth on Warnock’s record regarding the Inflation Reduction Act, with Oliver saying he believes the act did not reflect its proposed purpose.

“The bill itself doesn’t reduce inflation, so I wouldn’t run on the ‘I voted for the Inflation Reduction Act’ if you’re talking about how you’ve reduced inflation in the United States Senate because that bill doesn’t do it,” Oliver told Warnock.

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.