Democrat Raphael Warnock won a historic second term as Georgia’s first black senator, beating out his Republican opponent Herschel Walker in the runoff race for federal office.
In the previous round, Warnock finished ahead of his rival by some 37,000 votes, but fell short of the 50% threshold needed to avoid a runoff. Now, in a true heartthrob night, he’s outscored Walker 50.7%. vs. 49.3%, according to CNN projection with 98% of the votes counted.
In January 2021 Warnock was elected to Congress along with fellow Democrat Jon Ossoff, also in a runoff election, a huge victory for Democrats in a historically Republican state. Georgia also opted for President Biden in the 2020 presidential election.
His victory means Democrats now hold an outright 51-49 majority in the federal senateinstead of a 50-50 split with Vice President Kamala Harris running off.
That new absolute majority means the party will no longer have to negotiate a power-sharing deal with the Republicans.
Warnock, a Baptist pastor, describes himself as a progressive Christian along the lines of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who presided over the same Atlanta church where the senator leads the congregation: Ebenezer Baptist Church of Atlanta.
He campaigned on the idea that America can move beyond its racist roots. During the runoff she focused on “bread and butter” issues like inflation, but also health care. She sought to win the support of younger voters.
For her part, Walker ran on a far-right platform, saying she was pro-life, supported heteronormative family values and stressed that she would back another run for former President Donald Trump.
He lied multiple times on his resume and was accused of domestic abuse. Two women claimed that he had forced them to abort.
Walker joins the list of Republican losers in the midterm elections: Dr. Mehmet Oz of Pennsylvania; Blake Masters of Arizona; Adam Laxalt of Nevada and Don Bolduc of New Hampshire, all loyal to and supported by Trump.
