Georgia Voters Give Democrats Outright Control Of The Senate By Re-Electing Incumbent Senator Raphael Warnock

The 2022 Midterms finally ended Tuesday night after incumbent Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock defeated Republican Herschel Walker in a runoff election. In November neither Warnock nor Walker received a majority of the vote, setting the stage for the Dec. 6 runoff.

Georgia voters set turnout records by participating in early voting in unprecedented numbers. Many stood in the rain to have a say in a race that would help Democrats cement their committee power in the U.S. Senate and send Warnock back to Washington.

The victory also gives Democrats outright control of the Senate. For the first two years of President Joe Biden’s term, there was a 50-50 tie in the Senate, and in the case of a tie vote, Vice-President Kamala Harris could break it with her vote. But with Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sienna occasionally breaking ranks with their party, Democrats wanted a more secure advantage.

The Georgia runoff closed the case on any lingering questions about Republican missteps in the midterm elections. Warnock’s win sent a clear message: Voters are becoming less and less enamored of former President Donald Trump’s litany of 2020 election falsehoods. His win also underscores President Biden’s overlooked skills as a leader.

Historically the party in office during a midterm election fares poorly. But Biden defied the odds by narrowly losing the House and retaining control of the Senate, effectively dodging what many analysts predicted would be a “red wave.” He is the first president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt who did not lose a senator during a midterm election.