2022 Midterm Elections | Races to follow: Herschel Walker vs Raphael Warnock

Democrats have secured their majority in the Senate with Nevada Senator Catherine Cortez Masto’s win. But the runoff race taking place between incumbent Senator Raphael Warnock and his Republican rival Herschel Walker will determine whether it stays split 50-50, or Democrats can pass legislation without Vice President Kamala Harris’ tiebreaker vote.

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While Warnock gained the lead coming out of the summer the race tightened to a toss-up. Since neither candidate got more than fifty percent of the vote on Midterm Election Day, the race will go into a runoff to be held in December.

Georgia race is key to control of the Senate

The former reverend, Warnock will be looking to win his first full term in the upper chamber of Congress as he was elected in a special election in 2020 defeating sitting Senator Kelly Loeffler in a runoff. She herself had been in the post for less than a year appointed by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp after Senator Johnny Isakson stepped down for health reasons.

The 2020 elections saw a major upset in the Peach State for the GOP swinging to Blue. For the first time since 1992, Georgia voted for a Democratic presidential candidate and elected both Democratic Senate candidates, Warnock and Jon Ossoff, ending 18 years of both seats in the hands of Republicans.

It also gave control of the Senate to the Democrats, splitting the upper chamber 50-50 with Vice President Kamala Harris serving as the tie breaker. The 2022 showdown in Georgia has been one of the most closely watched national contests for the Midterms.

Who is Senator Raphael Warnock?

Before becoming a Senator, Warnock was the senior pastor at the Atlanta church where Martin Luther King Jr preached, Ebenezer Baptist Church. When he was sworn into the Senate he became the first Black senator from Georgia and the first Black Democrat in the Senate from the South.

While his opponent is trying to paint the Senator as a radical and a rubber stamp for President Biden’s agenda, which the GOP says is responsible for crime, inflation and other social ills, Warnock has presented his even keel nature. One of his main focuses is pushing for voter rights, which has been a lifelong fundamental issue for him.

He has fought for reducing healthcare and prescription drug prices, investing in agriculture, infrastructure and manufacturing. He campaigns on faith-based social-justice that prioritizes seniors, farmers, servicemembers and veterans as well lower- and middle-class Georgians, his main constituency.

Who is Herschel Walker?

The one-time football star and political novice Walker is backed by former President Donald Trump. That endorsement helped him overcome five other GOP contenders to win the party’s primary. His campaign has been plagued by scandal and gaffes.

He has been running on an anti-abortion platform as a “staunch” pro-lifer, but it was revealed that he has allegedly paid for at least two abortions. His denials about the first to come to light, despite the woman presenting evidence to the contrary, prompted a second woman ‘Jane Doe’ to come forward with her own story. She alleges that in the 1990s he pressured her to have the procedure but she couldn’t go through with it, after which Walker drove her to the abortion clinic and waited outside to make sure that she terminated her pregnancy.

He is also a vocal critic of absentee African-American fathers, however he only publicly acknowledged three of his four children in June. He has also made several false claims related to his business, exaggerating its size and revenue, his academic success and jobs he has held, among them an honorary deputy of the Cobb County Police Department and an FBI agent. He has also struggled with mental health issues, violent outburst and has been accused of repeatedly threatening his ex-wife.