Georgia Prepares for Runoff Elections as Rest of America Begins

CANTON, Ga. – With final campaigns just two days in the rearview mirror, the political world plunges into a race for the Georgia Senate that will reveal the extent of the Democrats’ surprise draw in the midterm races and whether Republicans can overcome the long shadow of former President Donald J. Trump.

Result of a Georgia Flow Elections between Senator Raphael Warnock, a Democrat, and Herschel Walker, a former Republican soccer star, could determine control of the Senate, although that remained unclear as of Thursday night as the panelists said they could determine control of the Senate. Votes continue to be counted in Senate races in Arizona and Nevada.

One thing’s for sure: Flows on December 6, won’t come cheap. The candidates and their allies have spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars on the Georgia contest this cycle, according to OpenSecrets, a research group that tracks money in politics. Last year, Mr. Warnock won his seat in a vote for a special election alongside Senator Jon Ossoff’s concurrent Senate passer. According to the group, those contests were the most expensive in congressional history.

Now, as Georgia enters the race for the third time in less than two years, it’s all about Groundhog Day for Georgia voters, politicians and strategists. Donors are being tapped for another big round of testing. The campaigns are trying to attract prominent representatives of the state. And voters are gearing up for a month of nonstop campaign advertising that will continue through Thanksgiving.

On Thursday, Mr. Walker was back on his campaign bus heading to Republican strongholds in suburban Atlanta with Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. In the morning he met Governor Brian Kemp to discuss how the newly elected governor can support his withdrawal campaign, according to a Republican who spoke briefly during the conversation. That could suggest the state party will rally around his bid, marking a shift from the general election, when Mr Kemp distanced himself from Mr Walker’s tarnished brand of political

But Thursday was about activating his voter base in areas that have overwhelmingly supported his candidacy from the start. More than 1,000 people filled a tent outside a Canton brewery to watch Mr Walker and Mr Cruz, who soon announced that “control of the Senate will be decided by Georgian men and women”.

Mr Walker kept the main points of his cryptic speech on Thursday, combining highlights from his personal story with criticisms of Mr Warnock. He opposed the senator’s admission of systemic racism in the United States and his vote for President Biden’s policies before delving into arguments on crime, inflation and immigration. He also uses sports words to describe the flow, calling it “overtime.”

“We’re not going to split this house under my watch,” he said, encouraging a crowd of supporters, many of whom sported the University of Georgia, red hats and bearing American flags.

Mr. Warnock spoke to supporters in Atlanta, surrounded by nearly 100 people holding placards bearing the slogan “one more time”. “You have to admit that I warned you all that we might be spending Thanksgiving together,” Mr. Warnock told a crowd in Atlanta on Thursday. “And here we are.”

The flow campaign begins as Democratic Senate candidates hold the long lead in Arizona and obtained ballots by mail in Nevada, leaving some in the party feeling cautiously optimistic about maintaining control of the chamber. Republican chances look stronger in the House of Representatives, where the party have won or are leading in races for 221 seatsthree more than it takes to recapture the chamber.

Voting elections are a departure from Jim Crow-era laws intended to lessen the influence of Black politicians who could more easily win a multiparty race with majority of votes. In Georgia, races activated when no candidate achieves 50%. With more than 95 percent of votes counted as of Thursday afternoon, not the top candidate there was a path to the majority. Mr Warnock got 49.4% of the vote to Mr Walker’s 48.5%, a difference of about 35,000 votes. (Liberal candidate, Chase Olivergot 2.1 percent, about 81,000 votes.)

The contest will test whether voters are still motivated by issues like abortion rights that propelled Democrats to a midterm victory or a desire to deliver strong criticism of the administration’s policies. economic issues and public safety concerns.

Republicans were quick to blame Mr. Trump about their failures, pointing to the number of candidates he helped lift to primaries – like Mr. Walker – but then faltered over the Democrats. So far, Mr. Warnock has been able to stay above Mr. Biden’s underwater approval rating in the state, a dynamic he must maintain to win the flow. Separating his position from Mr Biden could become more difficult if control of the Senate is at stake.

Standing in front of a mural of former Congressman John Lewis, civil rights icon, on Thursday, Mr. Warnock delivered a campaign speech celebrating the accomplishments of the last few months of his campaign and reactivate a group of attack lines on ‌Mr. Walker. Mr. Warnock has identified himself as a bipartisan deal maker, working on reducing insulin costs, as well as investing in infrastructure and agriculture. He contrasted his record with Mr. Walker’s lack of political experience.

“This race is about capacity. It also requires an awareness of the challenges that Georgians face and a willingness and ability to work with them to solve them,” he said. “Herschel Walker has shown us that he is not capable.”

Much of the race for the Senate revolves around questions of credibility, with each candidate rating the other as unprepared and unreliable. Mr. Walker, a staunch supporter of abortion bans, was persecuted by claims that he pay for two ex-girlfriends to end their pregnancies, exaggerating about his business achievements, his misrepresentation of his work with the military and law enforcement, and Alleged abuse of ex-wife.

That difficult personal history has repelled key swing voters and even some Republicans. In this week’s election Mr. Walker underperformed Mr. Kemp, who ran for re-election on Tuesday night almost five points. His losses were particularly severe for suburban Atlanta revolving voters and independents. Mr. Kemp divided that group almost evenly, while Mr. Walker lost them by 11 points.

To win, Mr. Walker must curb his losses among turnout voters and bolster his party’s turnout, a trick that could be easier if the stakes don’t just cover including his candidacy but also control of the Senate. If Arizona and Nevada hand over control of the Senate to Democrats, Georgia Republicans may feel less motivated to turn to Walker.

“For Herschel Walker to succeed, we Republicans have to walk and chew gum at the same time,” said Heath Garrett, former chief of staff to former Georgia senator Johnny Isakson. “We will have to get out of the base. And then we had to get the permission of college-educated men and women from the suburbs to show up and vote for Herschel. “

An important part of their strategy depends on presenting a united front to Georgia Republicans, by bringing top representatives to the state to campaign with Mr. Walker. People close to the campaign mentioned Governor Glenn Youngkin of Virginia and Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida, two of the party’s biggest stars, potentially helpful in building enthusiasm for him. Walker in the Republican establishment.

Negotiations with Mr Trump are even more complicated. The former president has known Mr. Walker for nearly four decades and supported his primary bid on concerns about the establishment of the Republican Party. However, he has shied away from the state in the primaries, even as he organized large rallies for other candidates he endorsed.

On Thursday, discussions about Trump’s role were conducted between Republicans at the Walker campaign headquarters in Georgia, the National Republican Senatorial Committee in Washington and fellow Republicans. working at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla.

In addition to the Trump rally, another option being offered is to enlist Mr Trump as a top financier, anchoring him in his South Florida mansion to a host of fundraisers to help raise money. Some tens of millions of dollars may need to support Mr. Walker, according to one person briefed on the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations about strategy.

Mr Trump has assured people that he does not believe he will hurt Mr Walker if he goes into the state, although others are less optimistic. The state is particularly difficult terrain for the former president, who fueled a battle royale within the Georgia Republican Party with his false claims of a stolen election in 2020. Some in the party have blamed Mr. Trump for making them pay by undermining their efforts during two simultaneous births last year.

For his part, Mr. Walker sought to link Mr. Warnock to the embattled president. He also slashed Mr. Warnock’s credential as minister of Ebenezer Baptist Church, one of the country’s oldest Black churches. He attacked more than $7,000 monthly Warnock and the church’s ownership of an apartment building in Atlanta tried to evict some residents. Mr. Warnock denied the deportation.

Under voting law Georgia passed last year, the state’s outflow time was shortened from nine weeks to four. That gives campaigns and allied organizers less time than they get used to having to coordinate events and mobilize an already failed constituency that has already been asked to drop out. votes in three hot elections in the past two years.

Neither side has shown any sign of withdrawing from the competition. The Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, the official campaign branch of the Senate Democrats, will spend 7 million dollars to mobilize voters in the foreign race in Georgia, the organization announced Thursday. Earlier in the day, the Senate Republican campaign committee asked donors to contribute directly to a joint account between it and Mr. Walker’s campaign.

Representative Nikema Williams, chairwoman of the Democratic Party of Georgia, said: “We need everyone to stay energized for the next four weeks, noting that Thanksgiving will coincide with the final weeks of the campaign. “My biggest concern is that the Georgians don’t understand what is at stake in this election.”

King Maya reported from Canton, Ga., and Lisa Leer from New York. Michael C. Bender and Maggie Haberman contribution report.