Voters in Georgia—the ones who didn’t already vote early—are heading to the polls today, Tuesday, December 6, to decide the final breakdown of the United States Senate with a runoff election between Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and his Republican opponent, Herschel Walker. The signs are good for Warnock, who leads in one recent poll and for whom the early voting tea leaves have been promising, but the race is expected to be painfully close. Daily Kos will have live coverage as the results come in after polls start closing at 7 PM ET.
The closeness is painful not just because one of the candidates, Warnock, is so accomplished and compelling while the other, Walker, is a prolific liar with a history of domestic violence. Georgia voters have a choice between someone who has been a leader in the Senate during his first two years in office or someone whose party appears afraid to let him do interviews unless flanked by Senate-level handlers. And it’s close!
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The closeness is also painful because there is so much on the line. Yes, Democrats will control the Senate regardless of the outcome, but a Warnock win would give Democrats the edge on Senate committees, speeding up judicial confirmations. It would defang conservative Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, who have traded on their status as the swing votes to stall the Democratic agenda. And it would be a critical step to holding the Senate in 2024.
The more than 1.89 million early votes cast appear to be heavily Democratic, and Walker is estimated to need 60% of Tuesday’s in-person vote to win, The New York Times reports. He got 56% of the Election Day vote in November, with Gov. Brian Kemp on the ballot and easily winning reelection. But thanks to a compressed runoff schedule Republicans passed precisely to weaken Democratic chances, this year’s early vote is much smaller than the 3.1 million early votes cast in 2021’s runoff.
“There is still a path for Herschel Walker to win this race—he still could win,” Warnock told reporters on Monday. “We had a massive lead during the general. And so we know that there are differences in how people show up when they vote in this state. And so if there’s anything I’m worried about is that people will think that we don’t need their voice. We do.”
Even now, at the last minute, you can still help Sen. Raphael Warnock win reelection. Here's a list of actions you can take today to keep Warnock in the Senate and boost the Democratic majority.
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