(Bloomberg) — The battle for a US Senate seat from Georgia is headed to a dramatic runoff next month between incumbent Democrat Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker in a face-off that could determine control of the chamber.
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Election results in the nation’s most expensive race showed Warnock up on the former collegiate and NFL football star 49.4% to 48.5%, with 98% of the precincts reporting. Libertarian candidate Chase Oliver was drawing 2.1% of the vote, forcing the runoff, according to network projections.
Under Georgia law, a runoff between the two candidates with the most votes is required if no candidate reaches 50% support. That head-to-head election will be set for Dec. 6 after the state officially certifies Tuesday’s results and finds a runoff is required.
“Yes, there will be a runoff,” Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said Wednesday, adding that the “counties are prepared” for it.
The contest in Georgia, where early midterm voting set a record this year, has been one of several considered pivotal to deciding Senate control. Democrats flipped a Senate seat in Pennsylvania, but two seats held by Democrats in Nevada and Arizona haven’t been called.
Spending on television, radio and digital ads by campaigns and outside groups in the general election has totaled $245 million, according to AdImpact.
In seeking to unseat Warnock, Walker and other Republicans have focused on tying him and his policies to President Joe Biden.
But Walker’s celebrity was weighed down with personal baggage, including allegations of domestic violence and that he paid for two women’s abortions while publicly supporting limitations on the procedure.
Walker also was accused of having children he hasn’t publicly acknowledged and of exaggerating claims about his business success. Questions about his grasp of policy arose after he routinely made confusing and rambling statements on the campaign trail.
Warnock, who preaches from the same storied Ebenezer Baptist Church pulpit as the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., won the seat in a January 2021 runoff against then-GOP Senator Kelly Loeffler. At the same time, Democrat Jon Ossoff won Georgia’s other US Senate seat in a runoff.
Changes to Georgia’s election law have since shortened the wait for the runoff, compressing the time both parties have to mobilize voters before they go to the polls again.
–With assistance from Bill Allison.
(Adds Raffensperger in fourth paragraph)
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