On Tuesday December 6th, a runoff will occur in Georgia between Democrat Rapheal Wornock and Republican Herschel Walker. This race will occur due to either candidate clearing the 50 percent threshold in the general election that happened earlier this month. The shortcomings of both Wornock and Walker are attributed to Libertarian Chase Oliver, who has been deemed by many as a “spoiler candidate”. Only Wornock and Walker have advanced to the runoffs.
Both Warnock and Walker have run brutal attack ads leading up to the elections, and in the data shown using the few polls that have been conducted, the race seems to be as tight as was expected. While Wornock is the incumbent Senator and had an easy path towards nomination in the Democratic Party, Walker was previously a pro football star, and was nominated by the Republicans due to Trump’s endorsement. Even many Republicans have questioned Walker’s credibility, as several scandals have plagued his campaign, and he also comes off to voters as ignorant due to his statements having untrue information.
While the results of this seat will not directly impact the 2022 midterms, as Democrats have already won the Senate, they will definitely be important in the 2024 Senate Elections, as Democrats have to hold three states that historically lean Republican, and also hold a plethora of swing states including the likes of Arizona and Wisconsin. Due to these close races, every seat matters, even in this election cycle.
I predict that Democrats will most likely pull out in the Georgia runoffs due to the fact that they have incumbency advantage, because Wornock did better than Walker in the general election and because of Walker’s scandals and bizarre statements. Walker recently said that young voters who criticize the USA should move somewhere else, alienating many young voters who are turning out in record numbers, and give the Wornock campaign more fodder for attack ads.