Michael shares the results of the Midterm Elections and the Georgia Senate.
The 2022 Midterms came to a close on December 6th, 2022, with the results of the runoff Senate election in Georgia, where incumbent Democratic Senator and former pastor Raphael Warnock defeated Trump-endorsed Republican candidate and former football player Herschel Walker by about 100,000 votes, making it among the closest Senate races this year. The election was one of the most anticipated and consequential races of this Senate cycle, and Warnock’s victory helped ensure Democratic control of the Senate.
Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock won control of his current Senate seat 2 years ago in 2020 in another crucial runoff against then incumbent Republican Kelly Loeffler, which along with fellow Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff’s victory in the same year, helped Democrats take control of the Senate for the first time since 2014. In 2022, Warnock’s opponent would be former NFL player Herschel Walker, who was one of many “celebrity candidates” without political experience the Republicans would nominate this year for key Senate races including author J. D. Vance in Ohio and Dr. Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania. Herschel Walker would make a number of controversial statements on the campaign trail such as climate change and claimed to previously work in law enforcement when these claims could not be verified.
Going into this year’s election, Georgia, along with Arizona and Nevada were all very close states with incumbent Democratic senators that were all crucial for Democrats to hold in order to maintain the Senate. Polls in Georgia mostly marked the Senate race as a toss-up or a narrow victory for Walker. However, as it got closer to November, the polls began to shift in Warnock’s favor. On Election night, Warnock received 49.4% of the vote while Walker received 48.5% of the vote. In Georgia, a candidate must receive 50% of the vote to win the race, so a run-off was schedule for Decemebr 6th with the top two candidates, being Warnock and Walker. The runoff resulted in Warnock winning with 51.4% of the vote, and Walker snagging the remaining 48.6%.
The Democratic Party would be the victor of this year’s Senate elections, holding 51 Senate seats to the Republican’s 49. The Democrats would hold control of all of their close incumbent seats in Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada, as well as picking up a seat in Pennsylvania, with Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman defeating TV Doctor Mehmet Oz. However, with Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema’s announcement that she would be leaving the Democratic Party to become an independent, the Democratic lead shrank to 50 seats, which would still allow them to hold the Senate thanks to their close wins in Nevada, Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Georgia.