Sen. Raphael Warnock’s win gives Democrats more leverage in Congress

Sen. Raphael Warnock addressed an ecstatic crowd after his projected victory over GOP challenger Herschel Walker, thanking Georgia’s voters, his supporters and his family in a triumphant speech.

“After a hard-fought campaign, or should I say campaigns, it’s my honor to utter the 4 strongest words ever spoken in a democracy,” Warnock said. “The people have spoken.”

At times, the delivery from the reverend took on an almost sermon-like tenor.

“I often say that a vote is a form of prayer, for the world we desire for ourselves and for our youngsters,” he said. “Voting is faith put into motion. And Georgia, you will have been praying along with your lips and your legs, along with your hands and your feet, your heads and your hearts. You could have put within the exertions, and here we’re standing together.”

— Kevin Breuninger

Republican Senate hopeful Herschel Walker has conceded the runoff election in Georgia to Sen. Raphael Warnock, after networks, including NBC, called the race for Warnock.

“There aren’t any excuses in life, and I’m not going to make any excuses now,” Walker told a somber crowd gathered for an election night party in Atlanta. “We put up one heck of a fight.”

Walker didn’t congratulate his opponent, nor did he mention another politicians. He thanked his wife, Julie, and his campaign staff.

“You can’t blame anyone because I need you to proceed to imagine on this country, imagine in our elected officials and most of all, stay together,” he said.

“God is nice. He’s god. On a regular basis, he’s god. So I need to say, I’m never going to stop fighting for Georgia,” said Walker, who was a resident of Texas until he launched his campaign in Georgia.

Walker spoke for about three minutes.

— Christina Wilkie

Sen. Raphael Warnock is projected to beat Republican challenger Herschel Walker within the state’s runoff election to win a full six-year term within the Senate, in accordance with NBC News.

Warnock’s victory over Walker will give Democrats a 51-49 majority within the Senate, a potentially crucial boost that caps much-better-than-expected midterm elections for the party in charge of the White House.

It also marks a significant loss for former President Donald Trump, who had championed Walker and campaigned for him. Trump was already under fire from some Republicans after a lot of his handpicked candidates underperformed in key midterm races, helping Democrats keep majority control of the upper chamber of Congress.

— Kevin Breuninger

President Joe Biden sounded a confident note Tuesday night outside Washington, D.C., predicting that Democrat Raphael Warnock would win his Senate runoff in formerly deep red Georgia.

“We will win,” Biden told reporters as he deplaned from Air Force One following a day trip to Arizona. “We will win Georgia.”

That sentence, coming from a Democrat like Biden, would have been unimaginable eight years ago.

But now, Warnock’s race is predicted to deliver a final verdict on whether Georgia, a former Republican stronghold that former President Donald Trump won by 5 points, is admittedly a swing state.

— Christina Wilkie

A top state official said that while Georgia poll employees were prepared for the potential for violence on this yr’s Senate runoff, thus far the election had not produced “nearly the extent of vitriol” because the 2021 runoff did.

“The fever has broken,” Gabriel Sterling, chief operating officer of the secretary of state’s office, said on CNN.

He added, “Our big concern has all the time been the lone wolf who’s still offended about what happened in 2020 being stirred up by conspiracy theorists.”

As a part of the state’s election readiness, Sterling said Georgia had launched a latest poll employee text response program that “poll managers could use to notify us on the state level, their elections directors and native law enforcement if any actual threat” emerged on Election Day.

Thankfully, he said, nobody needed to make use of this system during Tuesday’s runoff.

— Christina Wilkie

The Georgia Senate runoff stays too near call, but Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock is leading his Republican challenger Herschel Walker, NBC News projected.

With 87% of the expected vote in, Warnock led Walker 50.2% to 49.8%, in accordance with NBC.

At the moment, some high-population areas, including heavily Democratic Fulton and Dekalb Counties, still had large chunks of the vote left to be counted.

— Kevin Breuninger

Two Georgia poll employees were involved in a serious automotive accident on voting day en path to deliver a vote card in Fulton County, said Gabriel Sterling, chief operating officer of the secretary of state’s office.

“They’d them in a jaws of life,” Sterling said on CNN. “Each of the poll employees are okay, they turned down medical attention to go to the hospital but they were in a position to retrieve that vote card” and turned it over to the county authorities on time, he said.

“This the form of stuff that happens on Election Day, because you will have hundreds of individuals on the market doing their jobs.”

Sterling praised Georgia’s poll employees and election volunteers, a few of whom he said should drive hours handy deliver ballot count cards to their county headquarters.

— Christina Wilkie

With greater than two-thirds of the vote in, the Senate runoff election in Georgia between Sen. Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker was still too near call, NBC News projected.

Warnock and Walker gave the impression to be neck and neck with 72% of the expected vote tallied. The Democratic incumbent held a narrow lead, 50.4% to 49.6%, over the GOP challenger, in accordance with NBC’s latest count of the race.

— Kevin Breuninger

The Senate runoff election in Georgia between Sen. Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker is simply too early to call, NBC News projected.

About an hour after the 7 p.m. ET poll-closing time, and with 49% of the expected vote in, Warnock gave the impression to be leading Walker, 53.4% to 46.6%, in accordance with NBC’s count of the race. That tally included about half of Fulton County, which is the state’s largest and includes Atlanta, where Warnock held a sizeable lead.

It was not immediately clear how much of the tally comprised early voters, who were believed to favor Warnock.

— Kevin Breuninger

The NAACP’s Office of General Counsel won an emergency lawsuit to increase voting hours in a Georgia church in McDonough, positioned in Henry County.

The suit brought by the civil rights group sought additional time for voting after early-morning issues delayed voters’ ability to solid ballots by 45 minutes, the group said.

Following an emergency hearing, the Henry County Superior Court granted the extension.

Voters who’re in line on the Salem Baptist Church by 7:45 P.M. will probably be permitted to vote. Polls across the remaining of the state closed at 7 P.M.

The NAACP was one among several civil rights groups on the bottom in Georgia for Tuesday’s runoff.

The Department of Justice also deployed officials from its Civil Rights Division to 4 Georgia counties to observe polls and ensure access.

— Christina Wilkie

Greater than 1.33 million votes had been solid on the day of the Senate runoff in Georgia as of 6 p.m. ET, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said.

That figure comes near matching the extent of turnout Georgia saw in the final election last month, Raffensperger said on CNN slightly below an hour before polls closed.

Georgia saw “very strong turnout,” Raffensperger said, adding, “It has been a smooth process.”

— Kevin Breuninger

Polls have closed at 7 p.m. ET in Georgia Senate runoff, 12 hours after they opened for in-person voting — and about one month after Warnock and Walker first locked horns in the final midterm elections.

While voters at some polling sites faced lengthy waits in line, state election officials reported that average wait times were temporary, with most individuals waiting just just a few minutes to solid their ballots.

Additionally they noted that if voters are in line by 7 p.m. ET, they’re allowed to solid their ballots.

— Kevin Breuninger

Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock’s campaign maintained a strong presence on Twitter as voters went to the polls, posting greater than two dozen original tweets before polls closed across Georgia.

Warnock’s strong social media presence stood in stark contrast to Republican Herschel Walker, whose campaign didn’t appear to have posted any original tweets as of 5:30 p.m. on voting day.

While Walker didn’t post anything original, his campaign retweeted several supportive messages from other Republicans, including Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

Walker has drawn criticism from Republicans during his runoff campaign for maintaining an unconventional campaign schedule, disappearing for greater than per week over Thanksgiving and refusing to talk to reporters at events.

— Christina Wilkie

Greater than 1 million voters are expected to solid their ballots on Tuesday in Georgia’s Senate runoff, in accordance with the chief operating officer for the secretary of state.

As of two p.m. ET, roughly 800,000 votes had already been logged, Gabriel Sterling told reporters at a press conference.

“We’re seeing no lines and pretty sizable turnout,” he said.

Tuesday’s ballots will probably be added to the nearly 1.9 million early and absentee votes which have already been solid.

— Christina Wilkie

Ye, the rapper once referred to as Kanye West who has been broadly denounced over a string of virulently anti-Semitic remarks, earlier Tuesday posted a picture of Herschel Walker together with a get-out-the-vote message.

“TeamHerschel.com/VOTE,” read a part of Ye’s post on Instagram, a Meta-owned social media platform that had restricted his account multiple times in recent months.

Ye had expressed support for Walker days earlier during an interview with right-wing conspiracy media outlet Infowars on Thursday. “Herschel Walker modified his life for Christ,” Ye said, “and he might need had abortions but he doesn’t imagine in abortions.”

That remark, a reference to reporting alleging Walker pushed a minimum of two ex-lovers to have abortions, got here in an interview wherein Ye expressed praise for Nazis and Adolf Hitler.

Twitter suspended Ye shortly after the rapper tweeted a picture containing a swastika later that day.

Walker’s campaign didn’t immediately reply to CNBC’s request for comment on Ye’s post.

— Kevin Breuninger

A brilliant PAC backed by former President Donald Trump has not invested a single cent into the Georgia Senate runoff, as incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock outspends Republican candidate Herschel Walker within the $84 million race.

The professional-Trump PAC Make America Great Again Inc. was launched within the buildup to Trump’s Nov. 15 announcement of his 2024 run for president. The PAC spent at least $681,000 supporting Walker within the Georgia Senate general election but nothing for today’s contest, in accordance with data from AdImpact and Federal Election Commission.

A spokesman for the MAGA Inc. PAC didn’t return a request for comment.

Democrats have outspent Republicans within the runoff campaign. Warnock’s campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spent $27 million on ads backing Warnock, AdImpact’s data shows. Walker and the National Republican Senatorial Committee spent just over $11 million on the runoff race.

Warnock’s campaign had almost thrice as much money readily available as Walker’s within the runup to Georgia’s runoff election.

Other Democratic groups spent an extra $30 million on the runoff while other Republican organizations put up an additional $15.8 million heading into Tuesday.

— Brian Schwartz

Democratic advertisers dominated Georgia’s airwaves within the run-up to the runoff, outspending Republican advertisers by greater than a 2-to-1 margin, in accordance with data from AdImpact.

Democratic advertisers spent $57.2 million within the runoff period, versus $27.3 million from GOP advertisers. That is a much wider gap than in Georgia’s general election, when the share of ad spending was split more evenly between the 2 parties’ promoting groups.

Party-issue groups’ spending also flipped between the Georgia general midterm election and the runoff, in accordance with AdImpact: GOP groups made up greater than 58% of ad spending for the state’s general election, but just 35% of ad spending within the runoff.

AdImpact noted that MAGA Inc., a bunch backed by former President Donald Trump that bought ads for the Nov. 8 Senate race in Georgia, spent nothing within the state throughout the runoff.

— Kevin Breuninger

The Department of Justice said it should monitor Georgia’s Senate runoff election in 4 counties to make sure compliance with federal voting rights laws.

The federal personnel will probably be present in Cobb County, Fulton County, Gwinnett County and Macon-Bibb County, in accordance with a DOJ press release.

The DOJ has been monitoring elections as a typical practice for a long time to substantiate compliance with the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

But within the November midterm elections last month, state officials from Missouri and Florida said they’d block federal officers from entering polling sites. DOJ election monitors didn’t go inside polling places in 2020 resulting from the coronavirus pandemic.

The DOJ’s notice about its activities within the Georgia runoff included a link to a webpage where people can report possible violations of voting rights laws.

— Kevin Breuninger

Walker’s campaign sought to present him as a world-class athlete, a successful businessman, a faithful Christian and an inspirational figure who overcame adversity. But his Senate bid has been weighed down by a stream of gaffes and major scandals about his personal life.

Republicans circled the wagons across the ex-NFL star after The Day by day Beast and other news outlets reported that Walker, who expressed staunchly anti-abortion views on the campaign trail, had paid for an ex-girlfriend’s abortion years earlier. Walker denied the allegations, at the same time as his adult son Christian Walker castigated his father on social media. Lower than two weeks before the midterms, a second woman got here forward to assert Walker had pushed her to get an abortion.

Walker’s personal life had already been under scrutiny before those allegations got here to light. Earlier within the campaign, Walker had acknowledged fathering multiple other children who weren’t previously known to be related to him. The Senate bid has also raised questions on Walker’s mental health, and accusations by Walker’s ex-wife, Cindy Grossman, resurfaced that he had been abusive and threatening toward her.

Claims about Walker kept coming within the runoff campaign: Last week, The Day by day Beast reported allegations by Cheryl Parsa, an ex-girlfriend of Walker’s, accusing the Senate candidate of violent behavior and infidelity.

— Kevin Breuninger

Georgia voters are casting ballots without much delay, in accordance with Gabriel Sterling, the chief of operations for Georgia’s secretary of state.

“We’re right down to a wait time of minute and 25 seconds,” Sterling tweeted around 9:30 a.m. ET.

Two hours after polls opened, turnout on the state’s 2,400 polling locations had exceeded 250,000 votes solid, Sterling tweeted on the time.

“Regular turnout,” Sterling said.

— Kevin Breuninger

Once a reliably red state in national elections, Georgia has emerged in recent cycles as one of the necessary and competitive swing states within the U.S.

The Peach State has skewed Republican for a long time, however it narrowly sided with President Joe Biden over former President Donald Trump in 2020, then elected two Democrats to the U.S. Senate. Those victories gave Democrats a razor-thin Senate majority, which went on to enact major pieces of Biden’s legislative agenda.

Warnock won his seat in a runoff nearly two years ago in a Jan. 2021 special election against GOP contender Kelly Loeffler. Georgia’s other Senate seat went to Democrat Jon Ossoff over Republican David Perdue in a separate runoff that very same day.

The high-profile race between Warnock and Walker went to a runoff after no candidate won greater than 50% of the vote within the November general election. While Warnock got more votes than Walker, third-party candidate Chase Oliver, a Libertarian, secured just over 2% of the vote, keeping either of the 2 fundamental contenders from clinching a majority, in accordance with NBC News’ count.

— Kevin Breuninger

The early-voting period before the runoff election broke records, with the ultimate day Friday notching the “single biggest day of early voting ever,” state election officials proclaimed.

Greater than 353,000 voters solid ballots in person on that day, state data show, crushing records set earlier within the week. Georgia’s previous one-day record for early voting was about 233,000 votes, in accordance with Gabriel Sterling, chief operating officer for the Georgia Secretary of State.

But total early-voter turnout was still down from the prior Senate runoff in Georgia, data show. About 1.87 million early votes were solid within the runoff between Warnock and Walker, down from the three.1 million votes solid in Georgia ahead of last yr’s runoffs.

That could possibly be because voters in the present runoff election had fewer days to solid their ballots — about one week, compared with the nearly three weeks offered within the prior cycle. The condensed schedule got here after Georgia’s GOP-led legislature passed a sweeping 2021 election law. It might have been narrowed further, however the Warnock campaign won a state lawsuit to permit early voting on the weekend after Thanksgiving.

— Kevin Breuninger