By Bill Barrow and Jeff Amy -
The Associated Press
Georgia voters decide on Tuesday the last race for the country's Senate by choosing between Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker, an American football legend, after four weeks of intense publicity campaign to mobilize voters.
The runoff for this seat will determine whether Democrats achieve a 51-49 absolute majority in the Senate or control a 50-50 chamber that will need a runoff vote from Vice President Kamala Harris.
The Democratic senator is seeking re-election. Win McNamee / Getty Images
The vote ends a bitter fight between Warnock, the state's first black senator and senior minister of the Atlanta church where Martin Luther King Jr. preached, and Walker, a former University of Georgia football star and newcomer to the politician but close to former President Donald Trump.
If Warnock wins, it would cement Georgia's status as a battleground heading into the 2024 presidential election. If Walker wins, however, it could confirm that Democrats are losing support in the state, especially given that Georgia Republicans they swept every other state race last month.
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In the November 8 midterms, Warnock had 37,000 more votes than Walker out of the nearly four million cast, but fell just short of a majority, forcing a runoff.
So far, about 1.9 million votes have already been cast in advance, which translates into an advantage for the Democrats.
Former football star Herschel Walker is the Republicans' last hope of keeping the Senate deadlocked. Alex Wong / Getty Images
Walker, 60, fell more than 200,000 votes behind Republican Gov. Brian Kemp after a campaign marked by intense scrutiny of his past, meandering campaign speeches and a series of damaging allegations, including claims he paid for abortions two ex-girlfriends, accusations that the Democrat has denied.
Warnock, whose 2021 victory came in a special election to replace Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson for the remainder of his term, sounded confident Monday that he would do well, predicting he had won over enough voters, including independents and moderate Republicans who supported Kemp, that he deserves a full term.
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“They have seen that I will work with anyone who helps me do a good job for the people of Georgia,” the 53-year-old senator declared during one of his last campaign rallies.
“I think they will succeed.
They know that this race is about competition and character,” he stressed.
“I love you all, and we are going to win these elections,” he assured.
Warnock's campaign has spent some $170 million, far exceeding Walker's nearly $60 million, according to the latest federal filings.
But the Democratic and Republican party committees, along with other political action committees, have spent even more.
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Walker, who used his fame as an athlete to win the Republican Party nomination, has tried to portray Warnock as a man who does not dispute the policies of President Joe Biden.
At times, she has attacked him in especially personal terms, accusing him of having "bent his back" and "being on my knees, begging" in the White House, a scathing attack by a black candidate against a black senator for his relationship with a president. white.
A billionaire businessman, Walker has inflated his philanthropic activities and business achievements, even claiming that his company employed hundreds of people and had tens of millions of dollars in annual sales, although later records indicate that he had only eight employees and had a turnover of one million dollars. average of 1.5 million dollars a year.
In addition, he has suggested that he has worked as a law enforcement officer and has claimed to have graduated from it at the university, although he has done neither.
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The Republican was also forced to admit during the campaign that he had had three children out of wedlock, of whom he had never spoken publicly before, which is in direct conflict with his years of criticism of absentee fathers and his calls for that black men play an active role in the lives of their children.
His ex-wife claims to have been a victim of violence, even alleging that Walker once held a gun to her head and threatened to kill her.
The Republican has never denied these facts.
In fact, he wrote about his violent tendencies in a 2008 memoir, in which he attributed his behavior to mental illness.
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Warnock has fought back with his individual accomplishments in the Senate, highlighting a measure he sponsored to cap insulin costs for Medicare patients, while reminding voters that Republicans blocked his idea to cap spending on all patients who depend on insulin to live.
He also applauded the deals on infrastructure and maternal health care forged with Republicans Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida.
Following the general election, Biden, who has struggled with low approval ratings, vowed to help Warnock win his seat, even if it meant not going to Georgia.
In fact, Warnock preferred to campaign with former President Barack Obama in the days leading up to the runoff election.
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For his part, Walker received Trump's endorsement but avoided campaigning with him.
On Monday, the last day of the campaign, both held a teleconference with supporters, according to a spokesman for the Republican National Committee.
The Walker race is the last chance the Republican Party has to win a Senate seat this year.
Dr. Mehmet Oz of Pennsylvania, Blake Masters of Arizona, Adam Laxalt of Nevada and Don Bolduc of New Hampshire, all Trump loyalists, lost their races, thwarting conservatives' plans for a majority in the Upper House.