A Runoff Looms in Key Georgia Senate Race

A Runoff Looms in Key Georgia Senate Race

Under Georgia law, if no candidate is able to garner more than 50 percent of the vote on November 8, the Senate race will go to a runoff in early December.

 

Two new polls indicate that the highly anticipated Georgia Senate race between incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and Republican challenger Herschel Walker will likely head to a December runoff, according to a new Politico report.

A New York Times/Siena College poll is showing that Warnock leads Walker 49 percent to 46 percent—which puts Warnock just shy of the majority needed to win the election outright.

 

However, according to the final poll released by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Walker owns a one-point edge on Warnock, 46 percent to 45 percent, with both men well below 50 percent.

Under Georgia law, if no candidate is able to garner more than 50 percent of the vote on November 8, the Senate race will go to a runoff in early December between the top two vote-getters.

“Notably, the Journal-Constitution’s poll included Libertarian Chase Oliver as a named option for respondents. He got 5 percent support in the survey—a vote share that easily could hold the leader under 50 percent in a tight race,” Politico wrote.

“But the New York Times survey didn’t mention Oliver—respondents had to volunteer they would vote for him. That led Oliver to capture only 1 percent of the vote in that survey, which helped Warnock approach a majority,” it continued.

For weeks, Walker has continued to fight allegations that he was involved in two women getting abortions. The latest woman, referred to as Jane Doe to protect her identity, claimed during a press conference last week with her lawyer that Walker had “pressured” her into getting an abortion after she learned she was pregnant in April 1993.

Last month, a Daily Beast report accused the former college and pro football star of allegedly paying for a former girlfriend’s abortion in 2009. The woman supported her claim with a receipt from an abortion clinic and a bank deposit receipt showing that Walker reimbursed her $700 for the procedure. The news outlet also reported that the same woman is the mother of one of Walker’s children.

Meanwhile, during a speech in Georgia on Friday night, former President Barack Obama described Walker as “a celebrity that wants to be a politician.” Walker responded on Saturday by calling himself a “warrior for God.”

“President Obama was here last night. He said I'm a celebrity. He got that one wrong, didn't he? I'm not a celebrity, I'm a warrior for God,” he said, per Fox News. “He got something else wrong, too. Remember two years ago he told us to vote for Joe Biden, didn't he? He got that one wrong, did he not? He's lost twice to Georgia already, hasn't he, so I think he probably needs to sit this one out.”

Ethen Kim Lieser is a Washington state-based Finance and Tech Editor who has held posts at Google, The Korea Herald, Lincoln Journal Star, AsianWeek, and Arirang TV. Follow or contact him on LinkedIn.

Image: Reuters.