Georgia Senate Runoff Election Updates: Biden congratulates Raphael Warnock (2024)

• Incumbent Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock is projected to have defeated Republican Herschel Walker in Georgia's U.S. Senate runoff election.
• The runoff came after no candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote in November's midterm elections.
• Much attention landed on Walker as he campaigned for the seat. He raised eyebrows on the campaign with his comments around racism and abortion, and even described his own child as "ugly."
• Warnock's win means Democrats have a stronger majority in the U.S. Senate with 51 seats following the midterm elections.

Live updates have ended.

12:03 AM EST

Biden Congratulates Raphael Warnock

President Joe Biden called Raphael Warnock Monday night after major news networks called Georgia's U.S. Senate runoff election for the incumbent Democrat.

Warnock's win secures 51 seats for the Democrats in the Senate for the remainder of Biden's first term in office.

"Just called @SenatorWarnock to congratulate him on his win," Biden said on Twitter. Accompanying his post was a photo showing Biden speaking into a cell phone. "Tonight Georgia voters stood up for our democracy, rejected Ultra MAGAism, and most importantly: sent a good man back to the Senate. Here's to six more years."

Biden posted the photo shortly after Warnock took the stage at his election night party in Atlanta. Warnock began his victory speech by saying, "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."

Warnock thanked his family and supporters in his remarks and said he plans to continue bipartisan work in the Senate now that he has been elected to a full six-year term.

"I want all of Georgia to know, whether you voted for me or not, that every single day I am going to keep working for you," Warnock said. "I'm proud of the bipartisan work I've done, and I intend to do more because I actually believe that, at the end of the day, we are all Americans."

Warnock then thanked voters for the "honor" of again electing him to serve in the Senate.

"After a hard-fought campaign, you've got me for six more years," he said.

11:48 PM EST

Walker Concedes to Warnock

Republican Herschel Walker delivered a speech to a crowd of his supporters Monday night after several major news networks called Georgia's U.S. Senate runoff election for incumbent Democrat Raphael Warnock.

Walker said his campaign has had a "tough journey."

"When they called the race, I said, 'The numbers don't look like they're going to add up,'" Walker said. "But one of the things I want to tell all of you is, you never stop dreaming. I don't want any of you to stop dreaming. I don't want any of you to stop believing in America."

Walker then thanked his supporters and donors.

"There's no excuses in life. You know, I'm not going to make any excuses now, because we put up one heck of a fight. And that's what we've got to do," he said.

Walker said the race was "much bigger" than himself. He then contrasted his campaign with the athletic and other achievements he has collected in his life thus far.

"But the best thing I've ever done in my whole entire life is run for this Senate seat right here," he said.

11:15 PM EST

Kamala Harris, Chuck Schumer React

Vice President Kamala Harris reacted to network projections saying Democrat Raphael Warnock defeated Republican Herschel Walker in Georgia's U.S. Senate runoff election.

"Georgia voters said they wanted a Senator who would fight for them—and made it a reality when they reelected @RaphaelWarnock to the U.S. Senate," Harris said in a Tuesday night tweet. "Congratulations, my friend."

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer also congratulated Warnock on his projected win in a series of tweets. In one, he shared an NBC News tweet calling the race.

"With @ReverendWarnock's win tonight, Democrats officially expanded our Senate Majority to 51 seats," Schumer wrote in another. "Thank you to every voter and volunteer who made this historic victory happen!"

Outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi joined Harris and Schumer in congratulating Warnock.

"Congratulations to Senator @ReverendWarnock for winning re-election! Your values, vision, and service to uplift working families and defend our Democracy are invaluable to Georgia, to the Congress, and to all Americans," Pelosi tweeted.

10:45 PM EST

Crowds at Election Night Parties React

The people attending election night parties held by Democrat Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker were seen reacting to networks calling Georgia's U.S. Senate runoff election for Warnock.

Several major networks called the race for Warnock shortly before 10:30 p.m. ET, more than three hours after polls closed.

Local reporters attending the Warnock and Walker events posted videos showing crowd reactions on social media. In one, crowds of people at Warnock's election night party in Atlanta could be heard cheering in celebration as music played in the background.

In another, some of the people attending Walker's party at the College Football Hall of Fame could be seen gathering for a prayer circle with their heads bowed after Warnock's projected win was announced.

10:27 PM EST

Raphael Warnock Wins Runoff, Networks Project

Incumbent Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock has defeated Republican challenger Herschel Walker in Georgia's U.S. Senate runoff election, according to projections by CNN and NBC.

Warnock's win against Walker, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, secures a 51-seat majority for Democrats in the Senate until the next general election in 2024.

Warnock, the senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, began representing Georgia in the Senate in 2021 after defeating Republican Kelly Loeffler in a special runoff election similar to the one in which he and Walker competed.

In 2020, Warnock and Loeffler battled for a chance to fill a Senate seat left vacant when former Georgia Senator Johnny Isakson retired. This election cycle, Warnock was running for a full six-year term. In both 2020 and 2022, neither Warnock nor any of the other candidates he ran against won at least 50 percent of the votes cast during the general election, thus triggering runoff elections.

Warnock's win in the 2021 runoff election helped the Democratic Party win a majority in the U.S. Senate, with Vice President Kamala Harris able to break ties. Warnock's win in Tuesday's runoff election means Democrats will have a 51-seat majority—comprised of 49 Democrats and two independents who caucus with the Democrats—for the rest of President Joe Biden's first term in the White House.

10:17 PM EST

Election Official Expects 'Long Night'

Gabriel Sterling, an election official with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger's office, said during a Tuesday evening appearance on CNN that he expects "a long night" as vote counting continues in Georgia's U.S. Senate runoff election.

Sterling estimated that about 3.3 million votes had been cast in the runoff election, a number he said shattered the state's previous midterm runoff election vote records.

There are "a lot of rural counties" that hadn't yet uploaded voting data, Sterling said at about 9:20 p.m. ET, though he said the state's large urban counties "uploaded a lot of stuff early."

In addition to delays in ballot reporting, Sterling said some poll workers were in a vehicle transporting a memory card carrying voting data when they were involved in a car accident. The poll workers were not seriously injured and declined medical treatment, Sterling said. The vote card was also retrieved, he added.

"This is the kind of stuff that happens on Election Day, because you have thousands of people out there doing their jobs," Sterling said.

The race between incumbent Democrat Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker remained too close to call at 10 p.m. ET.

Shortly before his evening appearance on CNN, Sterling tweeted, "It looks like a long night ahead. But this is why we count the voters' votes." He reiterated his prediction that there will be "a long night ahead" while speaking with CNN.

10:00 PM EST

RNC Chair Says Split-Ticket Voting is a Problem for GOP

Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said Republican candidate Herschel Walker has been "working hard" to gain voter support in the Georgia runoff election.

During an appearance on Fox News Tuesday afternoon, McDaniel noted that one issue Walker has to overcome is the large portion of Republicans in the state who voted for Republican Brian Kemp in the governor's race but voted for Democrat Raphael Warnock in the Senate race in the general election.

"We need them to come out and change their minds," she said.

Split-ticket voting, or "Republicans not voting for Republicans," was a problem for the RNC in many states in the 2022 midterms, McDaniel said.

She said Democratic candidates are "worse" and the party should stop "candidate-bashing" to ensure a united party win in 2024.

The RNC chair defending her role, saying the RNC "builds the road and the cars drive on it — that's the candidates."

"We don't pick the cars, the voters do," she said.

McDaniel added that Walker also needs to make up for the large portion of the early vote that is likely to go to Warnock.

She said rural counties did not have enough ballot drop-off or early voting centers open, calling it a "funding issue."

"So today, a lot of voters are going to vote in person because they couldn't during the five-day early voting period," she said. "We need them to turn out."

She said the GOP needs to vote early.

"There were many in 2020 saying don't vote by mail, don't vote early, and we have to stop that," she said. "We have to understand that if Democrats are getting ballots in for a month, we can't expect to get it all done in one day."

09:35 PM EST

Warnock Retakes Lead, State Data Shows

This competitive race is changing by the minute, with the Georgia Secretary of State's office now showing Democratic incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock taking the lead.

As of 9:35 p.m. ET, Warnock now has 50.5% of the vote, with 1,412,079 votes counted. Republican challenger Herschel Walker has 49.47% of the vote, with 1,382,652 votes counted.

09:32 PM EST

Walker, Warnock in Virtual Tie

Incumbent Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker are in a virtual tie, state data shows.

The latest data from the Georgia Secretary of State' office shows the candidates less than 200 votes apart, as of 9:30 p.m. ET.

Walker is leading with 1,295,894 votes, ahead of Warnock's 1,295,722 votes -- both at 50%.

09:17 PM EST

Walker, Warnock Seesaw for Lead

Georgia's U.S. Senate runoff election remains tight as election workers continue counting votes.

Race projections show Democratic incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker retaking leads in the race, with CNN at one point calling it a "virtual tie."

Early vote tallies indicated Warnock had a strong lead in the race in the first hour after polls closed, but that lead began to narrow as more votes were counted. At about 8:45 p.m. ET, CNN projected that Warnock's Republican challenger, Herschel Walker, had taken over the lead, a projection that was soon after supported by state election data.

Fifteen minutes later, CNN issued a new projection saying Warnock was back in the lead. The two candidates were soon after projected to be tied, though the vote count continues to tip in both directions.

According to state election data last updated at 9:10 p.m., the candidates were separated by less than 0.2 percent of the more than 2.5 million votes counted thus far, with just under 65 percent of counties and precincts reporting.

Right now, Warnock is back in the lead with 50.5%, compared to Walker's 49.5%, with nearly 80% of precincts reporting, CNN projects.

08:50 PM EST

Walker Takes Lead, CNN Projects

Republican Herschel Walker has taken the lead in Georgia's U.S. Senate runoff election, CNN projected at about 8:45 p.m. ET.

Less than two hours have passed since polls closed. For most of that time, early vote counts showed Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock in the lead. Warnock initially led by a large margin, as early votes tend to favor Democratic candidates. But Warnock's lead narrowed until CNN projected that Walker had pulled ahead.

The race remains too close to call.

A reporter attending Walker's election night party shared a video on social media showing the crowd cheering as election night coverage indicated Walker had taken the lead.

08:44 PM EST

A Look Inside Candidates' Watch Parties

As the polls close across Georgia and early votes rolls in, both Senate runoff candidates are hosting their election night parties.

Republican Herschel Walker, a Heisman winner, is hosting his event at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta.

According to reporters at the event, cheese, fruit, vegetables and Chick-Fil-A is on the menu.

Former U.S. Senator from Georgia Kelly Loeffer, who lost the special election in 2020 to Democrat Raphael Warnock, was spotted at Walker's party.

Watch a live stream of inside Walker's event here:

Senator Warnock is hosting his election night party at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in downtown Atlanta.

Supporters from across the country are filing into the ballroom to watch the election results come in live.

Speakers, including different religious leaders, have begun to take the stage at Warnock's event. Watch a live stream of the event here:

Director Spike Lee was also seen talking to television host Roland Martin at Warnock's watch party.

Reporters inside the Warnock event said spirits are high as Democrats are pleased with the early results and are confident they can win this runoff.

08:18 PM EST

Over 1.4M Votes Already Counted

More than 1.4 million votes cast in Georgia's U.S. Senate runoff election had already been counted by 8:15 p.m. ET, just a little over an hour after polls closed.

According to state election data, 1,497,670 votes had already been counted with 13.21 percent of counties and precincts reporting.

Early results suggested Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock was in the lead with about 55.91 percent of the votes counted thus far, while Republican challenger Herschel Walker had about 44.09 percent of the early votes tallied. Among the votes counted so far are ballots cast ahead of Election Day, which tend to lean Democratic.

State election official Gabriel Sterling said during a Tuesday evening appearance on CNN that Georgia with this race had "record early voting for a midterm runoff" with "close to 3.3 million" total votes cast.

07:51 PM EST

Warnock Takes Early Lead in Fulton County

Fulton County began uploading election results from more than 184,000 early-vote ballots just after polls closed statewide at 7 p.m.

The county's Interim Director of Elections Nadine Williams said the results from another 14,000 absentee ballots from all 249 Election Day polling sites will be uploaded before midnight.

Williams said Georgia's most populous county saw "well over" 70,000 voters Tuesday. Most of the ballot delivery is expected between 8 and 9 p.m. Tuesday night.

According to the Associated Press, Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock is leading Republican Herschel Walker in Fulton County, 82.4 percent to 17.6 percent. About 49 percent of the votes from Fulton County have been counted. Warnock's initial lead in the county is not surprising, as early and absentee voting tends to lean Democrat.

In November's general election, Warnock won Fulton County by 52 percent.

07:32 PM EST

What Early Results Show

Votes are being counted in Georgia now that most polls have closed, with early results already available on Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger's website.

Most votes have not yet been counted, leaving the race too early to call.

Gabriel Sterling, an election official with Raffensperger's office, said the first batch of votes in Georgia's U.S. Senate runoff election includes early in-person votes cast in Fulton County.

Early results indicate Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock is leading Republican challenger Herschel Walker. Early in-person votes tend to favor Democrats, while many Republican voters often choose to instead vote in person on Election Day.

As of 7:30 p.m. ET, state election results showed Warnock with 60.91 percent of the more than 533,000 ballots that have been counted so far, while Walker had 39.09 percent of the votes cast. Seven of the state's 2,711 precincts were already marked as having completed election reporting on the state's election results website.

07:20 PM EST

Over a Dozen Polls Show Warnock Leading

Over a dozen polls show incumbent Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock leading over Republican challenger Herschel Walker.

Polls from Landmark Communications, SSRS, the Trafalgar Group, Data for Progress, Insider Advantage, Emerson College, UMass Lowell and Fabrizio, Lee & Associates/Impact Research have Warnock leading with either 51 or 52 percent of the vote.

Only one poll, from Philips Academy, has Walker leading 48 to 47 percent, with neither candidates achieving the 50 percent needed to win.

Based on the average calculations of those 13 polls, FiveThirtyEight estimates Warnock leads by nearly four points, with an average of 51.1 percent of the vote, compared to Walker's 47.2 percent.

07:00 PM EST

Polls Have Closed

7 p.m. ET: Polling locations across Georgia have now closed, with the exception of a few that have extended hours due to various issues.

Voters in line by 7 p.m. can still cast their vote.

Some of the Locations With Extended Hours:

Voters in Walker County's Chattanooga Valley precinct can vote until 7:30 p.m. Hours were extended due to smartcard issues that delayed the station's opening today, a Walker County election official said.

One location in Gwinnett County will remain open until 7:08 p.m.

A third location in Fulton County will remain open until 7:20 p.m. tonight due to a public safety issue near Scott Elementary School which caused a precinct to close for a short time earlier today.

06:31 PM EST

Election Night Parties Begin Soon

Republican Herschel Walker and Democrat Raphael Warnock will both be holding election night parties on Tuesday once voting ends in Georgia's U.S. Senate runoff election.

Walker is holding his election night party at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta. The party is set to begin at 7 p.m. ET.

Walker's campaign urged voters to attend the event after voting. In a post about the event on Twitter, Walker's campaign provided a link to state information explaining the runoff election and how voters can cast their ballots.

A reporter with Georgia Public Broadcasting shared pictures inside Walker's election night party. The photos showed red, white and balloons on tables inside a large event space decorated to look like a football field.

Another reporter with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution shared a photo inside Warnock's election night party. The event space seen in the photo had the U.S. and Georgia state flags on either side of a stage. Behind the stage was a projection of CNN's live coverage of the runoff election.

06:01 PM EST

Polls Close in One Hour, Three Locations Extend Hours

While polling stations across Georgia are set to close in just one hour, at least three polling stations in two separate counties will stay open late.

In Gwinnett County, one polling location at Evangel Community Church will remain open until 7:08 p.m.

Voters in the Chattanooga Valley precinct in Walker County will have until 7:30 p.m. to cast their votes.

Walker County Elections Director Danielle Montgomery said the precinct hours will stay open late due to issues with the smartcard that delayed the polling station's opening.

During a press conference Tuesday afternoon, Gabriel Sterling, chief operating officer at the Georgia Secretary of State's office, said Walker County's polling location will stay open due to a "human error."

In Fulton County, a public safety issue near Scott Elementary School caused Precinct 09K to close for 20 minutes. Therefore, the county was granted a court order to extend the voting hours at the location until 7:20 p.m.

While speaking on CNN, Sterling said he has "no idea" whether the race will be officially called tonight. He said that is up to how Georgians vote, as the race remains tight.

Polls close across Georgia at 7 p.m. ET. Voters who are in line at 7 p.m. can still stay in line and cast their vote.

05:48 PM EST

Biden Raised Money for Warnock

President Joe Biden helped raise money for Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock ahead of Georgia's U.S. Senate runoff election on Tuesday, according to the White House.

Biden phone banked for Warnock last week while on a trip to Boston. He also posted photos on his Twitter account after participating and encouraged others to help get out the vote, saying Democrats "need all hands on deck" ahead of Tuesday's election.

Biden was not in Georgia in support of Warnock on Tuesday and instead traveled to Arizona to tour a Taiwanese manufacturing company in Phoenix. When asked Tuesday how Biden is helping Warnock in the final hours before polls close, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre noted that she couldn't discuss the election in detail but pointed to Biden's phone banking work last week.

"He raised some money for Senator Warnock," Jean-Pierre said. "He's always said that he's willing to do whatever it takes, whatever Senator Warnock needs for him to be helpful."

Jean-Pierre said Biden is also focused on the "messaging" he is sharing with the American people, including reiterating his commitment to achieving his administration's policy objectives and "fighting for our democracy."

"We saw voters and the American public speak very clearly and say how important that was to them," Jean-Pierre said.

05:16 PM EST

More Than 800k Voted Tuesday, GA Official Says

More than 800,000 people have voted on election day in Georgia, as of 2 p.m. ET, according to the secretary of state's office.

During a press conference Tuesday afternoon, Gabriel Sterling, chief operating officer at the Georgia Secretary of State's office, said about 1.9 million people have voted already. He said between 1.1 and 1.3 million more votes may be recorded Tuesday.

According to state data, nearly 174,100 absentee ballots have been accepted. Sterling said tens of thousands of absentee ballots have yet to be turned in.

Sterling said the state will have "a good amount" of tallies in between 7:30 and 8 p.m., especially from larger counties.

He said the secretary of state's office told counties not to submit all the voting data at once.

"Give it to us as you get it so we don't get the room to grow for conspiracy theories that 'they showed up with 300,000 ballots at one time, which changed the outcome," he said.

Sterling said things are "running smoothly" at polling locations across the state.

Wait times are most polling stations are averaging about one minute, Sterling said.

04:45 PM EST

Over $84M Spent on Political Ads

An estimated $84.5 million was spent on political ads in Georgia's Senate runoff election, according to an ad spending analysis published Monday by AdImpact.

The report said more than $376 million was spent on the race overall, with an initial $36 million spent on political ads for the Senate primary election and about $256 million spent on the general election. The additional $84.5 million was spent on political ads in the four weeks since the November 8 midterms, according to AdImpact.

The total spent on political ads in Georgia makes it the most expensive Senate race of this election cycle, with Pennsylvania's Senate race coming in second at $311 million spent.

The total also makes the race the second-largest for ad spending in the history of Senate elections, placing second only to one of the state's runoff elections that followed the 2020 general election. In that case, AdImpact's report said about $412 million was spent on political ads surrounding Democrat Jon Ossoff's battle with Republican David Perdue.

The nonprofit OpenSecrets published its own report last week on political spending in the Georgia Senate race that came to a similar conclusion about the amount spent for the election as a whole. Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock raised about three times as much as his Republican challenger, Herschel Walker, through mid-November and twice as much as Walker between mid-October and mid-November, according to OpenSecrets' report.

03:58 PM EST

GA to Count Overseas, Military Instant Ballots

Thousands of instant ballots will be counted in the Georgia Senate runoff elections.

Georgia passes a law last year to create instant-runoff voting for military and overseas voters. This allows those voters to pick their second-choice candidates on their general election ballots so they do not have to vote again in a runoff.

According to the Georgia Secretary of State's office, over 3,740 military and overseas voters have returned ballots for the runoffs. It is unclear for the state data, however, how many of those ballots are instant-runoff votes returned before the general election and ballots issued since then.

There is a bi-partisan proposal in Georgia to have all ballots in the general election have the instant-runoff option. This would eliminate the need for separate runoff elections altogether.

If no candidates received more than 50 percent of the general vote need to secure the win, the results would be recounted to take into account the second choices.

Warnock said he was "willing to have that conversation" about runoff reform after the election during a debate back in October.

03:30 PM EST

Candidates Make Final Pitch to Supporters

Both candidates met supporters on the morning of the Georgia Senate runoff election to give their final pitches.

Warnock's Final Push:

Incumbent Democratic Raphael Warnock said his Republican challenger Herschel Walker is "unprepared" and "unqualified" for office.

"And it gives me no pleasure to say this, but, as a preacher, I'm in the business of truth-telling, he's unfit to represent the people of Georgia in the United States Senate," he said.

Warnock also blasted Walker on his lack of policy proposals.

"We haven't heard a single solution from my opponent," he said. "He hasn't offered a single policy proposal, except maybe a department to watch young men who are watching young women who are watching social media."

Walker's Final Push:

Republican Herschel Walker met with supporters at the Marietta Diner in Marietta, GA Tuesday.

He told reporters that he feels "very good" about the outcome of the runoff election.

"I think the early vote was good. And so now, I think we're going to win this election."

He said Warnock "has not spoken for Georgia" but he will "speak for the Georgia people."

Walker also dodged questions from reporters about how voters view his character.

"Right now, I'll put my character up against Raphael Warnock any day," he responded.

03:00 PM EST

Warnock Has Slim Lead in Tight Race

Incumbent Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock has a slim lead over his Republican challenger Herschel Walker in the Georgia runoff election, according to FiveThirtyEight.

The polling website calculated Monday that Warnock was averaging 50.2 percent of the vote and Walker was averaging 48.2 percent.

In the general election Nov. 8, Warnock received 49.4 percent of the vote, while Walker received 48.5 percent.

Warnock's 1.9-point lead is not definite, FiveThirtyEight said Tuesday. The race remains tight as Georgians who did not vote early line up to vote at the polls in person Tuesday.

Other polls, including those from Data for Progress, Trafalgar and UMass Lowell Center for Public Opinion all have Warnock leading Walker by a small margin.

During a campaign event Tuesday morning, Senator Warnock said "there is still a path" for Walker to win the election.

"The truth is, my opponent could still win this election," he told a crowd of supporters.

Warnock said more of his supporters tend to vote early, while most of Walker's supporters tend to vote on election day.

02:31 PM EST

Trump Makes Final Push for Herschel Walker

Former President Donald Trump made a final push for Georgia Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker on his Truth Social account Tuesday morning.

"To the Great State of Georgia, VOTE TODAY FOR HERSCHEL, he will never let you down!" Trump wrote.

On Monday, Trump encouraged Georgians to vote for the "wonderful" Walker, calling him a "fantastic athlete" and saying he will "be an even greater United States Senator."

"To all MAGA Voters, that is, people that want to Make America Great Again and Put America First," he wrote. "Vote for Herschel!"

02:05 PM EST

Kanye West Endorses Herschel Walker

Rapper Kanye West, known as Ye, has endorsed Republican Herschel Walker in the Georgia Senate runoff election.

Ye posted a photo of Walker on his Instagram account encouraging his 18.4 million followers to visit the GOP voting website and the Georgia Republican website to support Walker.

This endorsem*nt comes after Ye met with former Republican President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago home and spread more anti-Semitic rhetoric during an appearance on Alex Jones' show last week.

01:31 PM EST

DOJ to Monitor Polls in Several GA Counties

The Justice Department said it will monitor the polls in Georgia to ensure they are complying with federal voting rights laws.

The DOJ's Civil Rights Division has regularly monitored elections across the country since the passing of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

For the Georgia Senate runoff election today, the DOJ will monitor Cobb, Fulton, Gwinnett and Macon-Bibb Counties for compliance with federal voting laws.

Monitors will include personnel from the Civil Rights Division and from the U.S. Attorneys' Offices, the DOJ said in a statement.

11:44 AM EST

Ted Cruz Rallies Behind Herschel Walker

Republican Texas Senator Ted Cruz has expressed support for GOP candidate Herschel Walker in the Georgia Senate race.

"Georgia, the stakes are massive," Cruz said on Twitter on Tuesday, while Georgians were going to the polls.

"Democrats want to blow up the filibuster and ram through radical judges. If you love our county and love freedom, vote for my friend @HerschelWalker today!"

Cruz is referring to the supermajority filibuster rule, which requires 60 of the 100 senators to agree on most legislation and what some Democrats say has proven a major hurdle for the Biden Administration to pass certain legislation. The mechanism has been used by both parties to block bills tabled by the opposing party from passing.

Biden said in late June that the U.S. Senate should consider scrapping the filibuster to protect abortion and other privacy rights.

If the Democrats win the Georgia runoff, they will have 51 seats of the 100 Senate seats. If they lose, they will still hold onto their Senate majority as Vice President Kamala Harris will be have a tie breaking vote for the Democrats.

11:24 AM EST

When Will We Know The Results of the Runoff?

The final Senate race of the 2022 midterms will be determined by which candidate – Democrat Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker – gets more than 50 percent of the vote.

The run-off happening on Tuesday is due to neither of the two achieving this majority in the November Senate race. Today's runoff is also expected to be close, though polls give Warnock the edge over Walker.
In-person voting began at 7 a.m. today and polls will close at 7 p.m, though voters still queueing at 7 p.m. will still be allowed to cast their ballots.

However, due to the large number of early votes (1.86 million) and the fact that Georgia allows ballots to be counted before Election Day, we may know the final results sooner than previously expected.

Previous runoff elections in Georgia saw media organizations call the winner within hours of polls closing. For example, in the January 2021 Georgia runoff races, the Associated Press called both contests on the day after the election.

10:57 AM EST

Early Voting in Georgia Runoff Breaks Records

Early voting has smashed daily records in the Georgia Senate Runoff, with more than 1.85 million people having already cast their ballot before polls opened in-person on Tuesday.

Thousands of voters who did not vote last month or in previous elections turned out to vote.

In the original November Senate election, there were 2.2 million early votes in the Peach state, but numbers often fall in runoffs.

However, the latest runoff broke two single day voting records in week — including more than 352,000 Georgians voting on December 2, way higher the previous one day record of early voting in the 2016 General Election where 252,715 people voted.

The law SB 202, enacted in March 2021, shrank the timeframe for early voting in a run off from a minimum of 17 days to a minimum of five. Some Democrats, including President Joe Biden, have argued that some aspects of the law suppressed votes. However, turnout numbers have remained high.

To win the Georgia Senate run-off, either Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock or Republican challenger Herschel Walker need to obtain at least 50 percent of the votes.

10:16 AM EST

Georgia By Far Most Expensive 2022 Senate Race

The Georgia contest is easily the most expensive race in the midterms, with the two candidates and several special interest groups spending a combined $415.79 million on the race, according to recent data.

The data was released on Friday by OpenSecrets.org, which tracks election spending across the country.

That figure includes $181.23 million spent by Georgia Senate candidates and $234.55 million spent by outside parties.

After Georgia, Pennsylvania and Arizona were the most expensive Senate races in 2022, costing $374.53 million and $235.61 million respectively.

09:35 AM EST

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp Urges Herschel Walker Vote

Brian Kemp, the Republican Governor of Georgia, has urged voters in the peach state to vote for GOP candidate Herschel Walker instead of Democrat incumbent Raphael Warnock.

In a video posted on his official Twitter account on Tuesday morning, the day of the Georgia runoff, Kemp said: "Hey Georgia it's election day. Today your vote is going to decide who is going to be in the United States Senate for the next six years. Do you want to send somebody back who's voted with Joe Biden 96 percent of the time? Or do you want to send somebody that's going to fight to end 40-year high inflation, to lower gas prices, secure our southern border and cut your taxes versus raise them?"

"That's why I voted for Herschel Walker. I want to encourage you do the same," he added. "We've got to have a big turnout today to win this thing. Let's get it done and send someone like Herschel to the United States Senate who's going to fight for us."

Kemp defeated Stacey Abrams on November 8 in the mid-terms, winning re-election as governor.

08:18 AM EST

Rain Might Dampen Turnout For Georgia Runoff

There's bad weather news for Georgia voters today as it may be raining in swathes of the state, including in Atlanta, and there may be long queues at ballot boxes.

The National Weather Service forecasts a 70 percent chance of showers with patchy fog throughout Tuesday in Georgia's capital Atlanta, and elsewhere across the state, in what could dampen in-person turnout.

Some 1.8 million people have already voted early in the runoff so far, shattering records for the state. In-person voting will take place between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. across the battleground state. Early voting tends to benefit Democrats more than Republicans; however, Democrats also tend to fare well in cities like Atlanta, which have large minority populations.

An official for Fulton County, which includes most of Atlanta, said that they expected lines and a wait to vote.

"We do anticipate lines," Jessica Corbitt-Dominguez, a spokeswoman for Fulton County said in an email on Monday, according to The New York Times. "Elderly voters who are unable to wait in lines should see a poll worker."

Warnock obtained 49.4 percent of the vote, while Walker got 48.5 percent of the vote in the midterms last month, with a mere 36,000 votes between the two men.

07:37 AM EST

Warnock and Walker Relay Final Messages to Voters

Democratic incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Hershel Walker shared their final pitches to voters on Monday night, on the eve of the Georgia Senate runoff, as former president Donald Trump also made a last-ditch plea.
Speaking in Atlanta, Warnock urged supporters to turn and vote "like it's an emergency."
"There is still a path for Herschel Walker to win this race — he still could win," Warnock cautiously told reporters after speaking to supporters at Georgia Tech on Monday, adding he was worried that people "will think we don't need their voice."
"We do," he said.
Walker, a former football player endorsed by Trump, visited north Georgia counties he won in the vote a month ago.
Speaking at a vineyard in Gilmer County, Walker said: "Tomorrow is a big day. This is what we've got to do — we've got to vote."
Trump also commented on the runoff on his Truth Social platform on Monday night.
"To the Great State of Georgia, Get Out and Vote for the WONDERFUL Herschel Walker TOMORROW," Trump wrote.
"Herschel was a fantastic Athlete, and he will be an even greater United States Senator! To all MAGA Voters, that is, people that want to Make America Great Again and Put America First, tomorrow is a big day. Vote for Herschel!"

06:55 AM EST

Warnock Massive Favorite to Beat Walker—Bookmaker

Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock is the huge favorite to win today's Senate runoff, according to BetOnline.ag.

Despite falling short of the 50 per cent threshold to win the Senate seat last month, Warnock opened up at odds of -400 (1-4) for the runoff. That number has moved to -2500 (1-25) with hardly any betting interest backing Republican challenger Herschel Walker.

"The story of the first round was Herschel Walker massively underperforming compared to Governor Brian Kemp's runaway victory", BetOnline political analyst Paul Krishnamurty said. "A terrible campaign has since been hit by further scandals and the GOP haven't poured anything like the same resources into the runoff, trailing well behind Democrats in that respect."

He continued: "We've already seen very impressive Democrat turnout in the early voting, setting a formidable target that I doubt the Republican will come close to matching. The comments of GOP Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan that he 'waited in line for an hour and still couldn't bring myself to vote for Walker' were particularly notable, and reflective of a strand of opinion that regards him as a symbol of their poor performance at the midterms.

"I'm highly sceptical that Walker will be able to marshal a big GOP turnout without the likes of Kemp and Duncan on the ballot, and I think a Warnock victory in excess of 5% is realistic."

Political gambling is not legal in the U.S. but it is legal in other international countries.

06:20 AM EST

How to Vote in Georgia's Runoff Election Today

Today, Georgians go to the polls to decide the final Senate contest in the country.

Georgia is a battleground state that turned blue in the 2020 General Election and in a January 2021 run-off vote.

In today's runoff, the last polls show Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock has a narrow edge over Republican challenger Hershel Walker.

Registered voters can cast their ballots today, with polling stations open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m, as long as they have valid photo identification. You can find out more about voting, including where your nearest polling station is, here.

Early voting for the runoff shattered records, with more than 76,000 Georgians who didn't turn out in the general election voting early for the Senate race.

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