The Democrat’s victory marks the midterms’ final rebuke to Donald Trump.
Sen. Raphael Warnock has defeated Republican Herschel Walker in Georgia’s runoff election, bolstering the Democrats’ Senate majority to two seats, and delivering the midterms’ final rebuke to former President Trump.
Georgia is now set to be a key 2024 battleground, with Walker’s defeat — despite a narrow mail-in voting window, his own popularity, and Trump’s backing — sending a stark warning to Republicans.
“Against unspeakable odds, here we stand together,” Warnock said as his supporters cheered his new six-year term.
He alluded to several tough years doing consecutive stints on the campaign trail, adding: “After a hard-fought campaign – or should I say campaigns – it is my honor to utter the four most powerful words ever spoken in a democracy: The people have spoken.”
“I often say that a vote is a kind of prayer for the world we desire for ourselves and for our children,” he continued. “You have put in the hard work and here we are standing together.”
Warnock is the first Black person to have been elected Senator in Georgia. He’s appeared on the ballot five times in two years, and in each instance — a Democratic primary, two general elections and two runoffs — he’s faced off formidable Republican rivals. Before he stood against Walker, he beat Sen. Kelly Loeffler and former Rep. Doug Collins.
The Democrats now have 51 Senate seats to the GOP’s 49, giving them a major governing advantage, and allowing them to ditch the power-sharing agreement that has been necessary in the evenly-divided chamber over the last two years. Their committee majority will also mean that Democrats can more easily advance Biden’s nominees, and the extra breathing room afforded by the second seat in their advantage means that a single dissenting Democratic senator won’t be able to stymy the party’s agenda.
Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan explained Warnock’s victory to CNN as a testament to the candidates’ quality, adding that he hoped Republicans would take note of the dire effect an association with Trump appears to have had on Walker’s campaign.
“If we don’t take our medicine here, it’s our fault,” he said. “Every Republican in this country ought to hold Donald Trump accountable for this.”
Warnock’s latest victory marks an embarrassing rejection of Donald Trump. The former president came out strongly in support of his rival Herschel Walker during their initial midterms run, which also saw Walker himself beset by scandal.
On the campaign trail, Walker advocated fiercely for a ban on abortions with no exceptions, only for reports to emerge that he has previously pressured women to have the procedure, and paid for it himself. According to CNN’s KFile, Walker has also received a primary residence tax break on his home in Dallas, Texas, while running for the seat in Georgia.
Trump was a fierce defender of Walker during the abortion scandal, during which Walker’s own son came out to call his father an absentee parent.
“Herschel Walker is being slandered and maligned,” the former president claimed. “They are trying to destroy a man with true greatness in his future, just as he had athletic greatness in his past.”
Unlike his biggest cheerleader, Walker appears to have accepted the democratic result.
“There are no excuses in life and I’m not going to make any excuses now because we put up one heck of a fight,” he told his own supporters after admitting defeat on Tuesday night.
Meanwhile, speaking to NBC, Warnock’s campaign manager Quentin Fulks addressed whether he might look toward the White House in the future. “I don’t know. I think Senator Warnock is very tired and I think he’s been campaigning for a long time,” he said. “I can’t wait to see what he does, but I know he can’t wait to see what he can do when he has a full six-year term to represent the people of Georgia.”
