Opinion: The southern shepherd of the Democratic Party
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US Midterms: Warnock Wins Georgia Senate Runoff
Last updated Dec 07, 2022
Image credit: EPA/EFE/Shutterstock [via New York Post]Facts
- On Tuesday, Democrat incumbent Raphael Warnock defeated Republican challenger and former NFL player Herschel Walker in the Georgia Senate runoff, leaving US Pres. Biden's party with a 51-49 majority in the upper chamber of Congress.[1]
- While Warnock finished narrowly ahead of Walker in the November midterms, neither reached the majority needed, which led to this week's one-on-one runoff. Walker's loss continues the unsuccessful trend of Trump-endorsed candidates.[2]
- According to AP News, Warnock won 51.35% of the vote with just over approximately 1.8M votes out of the more than 3.5M votes cast in the runoff. This was down from the 3.9M ballots cast in November.[3]
- Warnock claimed, "it is my honor to utter the four most powerful words ever spoken in a democracy: The people have spoken." In defeat, Walker stated, "I'm not going to make any excuses now because we put up one heck of a fight."[4]
- Warnock won a runoff election to be Senator for a partial term in 2021, becoming the first Black person from Georgia to do so and only the 11th Black Senator out of over 2k total in US history. The election was the last outstanding seat of the 2022 election cycle.[5]
Spin
Democratic narrative
After an exhaustive election campaign season in Georgia, Warnock should now be considered the leader of a new generation and part of a Democratic renaissance in the southeast. Nationally, Democrats fared better than expected, and Warnock's re-election is a potential opportunity to push a center-left agenda throughout all parts of the US.
Republican narrative
Warnock's win capped a disappointing midterm election season and a major blow to Republicans. The expected red wave in November didn't materialize — with Warnock managing to misleadingly project a centrist image, despite the reality of his liberal voting record, and skirt past Walker at the finish line.
Nerd narrative
There's a 75% chance that the GOP will control the Senate after the 2024 elections, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
