As the drama of the midterms continues with the balance of power in the House and Senate still unknown, at least one campaign just got extended another several weeks as the U.S. Senate race in Georgia heads to a December 6th runoff between Democrat incumbent Senator Raphael Warnock and GOP challenger Herschel Walker.
BREAKING: Raphael Warnock (D) and Herschel Walker (R) advance to a runoff for U.S. Senate in Georgia @DecisionDeskHQ projects pic.twitter.com/Tn2UalJABe
— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) November 9, 2022
According to Decision Desk HQ, the two candidates are separated by roughly 35,000 votes with Warnock drawing 49.42% of the more than 3.9 million votes cast to Walker's 48.52% — neither clearing the 50% threshold necessary to win outright in Tuesday's general election and avoid a runoff.
With a few U.S. Senate races still yet to be called out West, it's not clear whether Georgia will again determine the final balance of power in the upper chamber for the new Congress as it did with 2021's special elections that saw both Republican candidates lose to Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff.
If the outcome of Georgia's race becomes the deciding vote in a Senate majority, the Peach State will again become the center of focus for both parties' national apparatus and draw big-name surrogates and even more outside money as the GOP and Democrats go for broke to try and win or retain power over the Senate.
The way things stand, Democrats are leading in Arizona's Senate race while Republicans are up in Nevada's contest. If those trends continue and Sen. Mark Kelly hangs onto power in AZ while Adam Laxalt unseats Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, then yet again Georgia will determine whether Republicans end the cycle with a Senate majority or if things remain the way they started with a 50-50 split.
*UPSHOT*
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) November 9, 2022
1️⃣ If Democrats win NV and AZ Senate races, they hold the Senate. (Democrats are leading in AZ and expected to win, NV will be a razor-thin margin but the fundamentals slightly favor Democrats.)
2️⃣ If Democrats win AZ but lose NV, the Senate hinges on a Georgia runoff.
Here we go again.