2022 Georgia Senate race: Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker headed for a runoff
get the free appThe closely-watched race for the U.S. Senate in Georgia between Democratic incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker will head to a runoff election, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced Wednesday afternoon.
"Ballots are being built as we speak, and counties are making preparations," Raffensperger told reporters.
There was a third-party candidate in the race, and neither Warnock nor Walker was projected by CBS News to clear the 50% threshold of votes needed to declare victory, setting up another showdown between the two at the ballot box on Dec. 6.
Warnock tweeted Wednesday, "We're going to a runoff, Georgia! Let's do this one more time!"
As is the case in many states in the 2022 midterms, the economy has been the top issue for voters in Georgia, according to a recent poll by the University of Georgia.
According to early exit polls, voters in Georgia voters were split as far as the most important qualities in a candidate: 36% say they're looking for a candidate who shares their values, while 32% said a candidate's honesty and integrity are most important to them.
In October, Walker's campaign was rocked by allegations that he paid for at least one woman to have an abortion. Walker has denied the allegations, and national Republicans have stuck by him.
This race is a crucial one for both parties as they vie for control of the Senate.
Early voting shattered records, with more than 2.5 Georgia residents voting ahead of Election Day, according to the secretary of state's office.
Georgia was one of the closest races in the 2020 election, with President Joe Biden winning the state by around 10,000 votes. Both of its Senate races went to runoff elections that year, with Warnock defeating Republican Kelly Loeffler. In the other race, Democrat Jon Ossoff defeated David Perdue, who had been leading going into the runoff.
– Eran Ben-Porath and Melissa Quinn contributed to this report.
Georgia announces Senate runoff election Dec. 6
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, whose office oversees elections in the state, announced Wednesday that a runoff in the Senate race will be held on Dec. 6. Under Georgia law, if no candidate tops 50%, the top two finishers advance to a runoff four weeks later.
"At the end of the day, everyone wants to know that we have honest and fair elections and we do. I would ask the voters to come out and vote one last time," Raffensperger said.
Georgia election official: "Safe to say" there will be a runoff
Gabriel Sterling, the chief operating officer for the Georgia Secretary of State's office, tweeted early Wednesday that it's "safe to say" the election in Georgia will head to a runoff next month. The state has not yet made an official announcement about whether a runoff will be necessary.
"While county officials are still doing the detailed work on counting the votes, we feel it is safe to say there will be a runoff for the US Senate here in Georgia slated for December 6," he tweeted.
The race
Warnock was elected in a special election in 2020 against incumbent Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who was appointed after Sen. Johnny Isakson stepped down due to health problems in 2019. Warnock had led the 21-person "jungle" (multi-party) special election, but only captured 32% of the vote, so he and Loeffler, the second-highest vote-getter, went into a January runoff. Warnock ultimately prevailed, becoming the first Black senator from Georgia.
The January runoff election was held on Jan. 5, 2021, one day before former President Donald Trump's supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol. Just a few days ahead of the runoff, on Jan. 2, 2021, Trump called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and asked him to "find" more than 11,000 votes to put him over the top in the state.
Now Warnock faces Walker, a Heisman Trophy winner who was a running back for University of Georgia. Walker is the rare Republican who in the primaries had the support of not only of Trump, but also Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Democrats have been invested heavily in the race, and former President Barack Obama traveled to Georgia in the final sprint, calling Walker "a celebrity that wants to be a politician."
Walker announced his run for the Georgia Senate race August 2021, saying he "can't sit on the sidelines anymore." This is his first candidacy, and he frequently invokes his Washington outsider status on the campaign trail.
His campaign was rocked last month by a Daily Beast report that in 2009, Walker, who has vocally opposed abortion rights, allegedly paid for an abortion for a woman he'd been seeing. CBS News has not independently confirmed this payment. The Daily Beast said the unidentified woman supported her claim with a $575 receipt from an abortion clinic and a signed $700 personal check from Walker to cover expenses. She told The Daily Beast she came forward because of Walker's stance on abortion, saying "I just cant with the hypocrisy anymore. We all deserve better."
On Oct. 5, The Daily Beast reported that she also said she later gave birth to a child by Walker. He also denied that report. The woman told The New York Times that when she became pregnant again two years later, Walker again asked her to end the pregnancy. This time, she refused, she and Walker ended their relationship, and she gave birth to a son, who is now 10 years old.
"He has to be held responsible, just like the rest of us. And if you're going to run for office, you need to own your life," the woman told The Times.
In late October, another woman came forward, claiming that Walker had paid for her to have an abortion in the early 1990s. Walker also denies this accusation. The woman, known as Jane Doe to conceal her identity, said Walker drove her to an abortion clinic in the spring of 1993 after he learned she was pregnant.