A week of early voting begins Saturday in some Georgia counties as Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker enter a sprint a week and a half after Thanksgiving for their Dec. 6 runoff election.
Unlike the 2021 runoffs, control of the Senate is not on the line, with Democrats already winning 50 seats and Vice President Kamala Harris giving the party a tie-breaking vote.
But the stakes remain high: a Warnock victory would give the Democrats an outright majority, rather than requiring the power-sharing deal that exists now. Democrats would have a majority on the committees, allowing them to more easily advance President Joe Biden’s nominees.
The Georgia Supreme Court overruled Warnock on Wednesday, allowing counties to offer early voting on Saturday. Democrats said they expected as many as 22 counties to do so — some in densely populated areas around Atlanta, including DeKalb and Fulton, as well as Chatham County, home to Savannah.
That decision followed a legal battle sparked by Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s interpretation of the 2021 Voter Act. He said the new law restricted voting on the weekend right after the holidays.
That 2021 law halved the timeline for runoff elections to four weeks and limited the early voting window to at least five days instead of the 16-day minimum that was in place when Democrats won two state Senate runoffs . January 2021.
As many as 22 of the state’s 159 counties let voters cast ballots Saturday.
At a polling place in Atlanta, Boston College student Emma Demilio said she probably wouldn’t have been able to vote in person if early voting locations hadn’t opened.
“This is the only time I am in Georgia and I can vote. I’m leaving tomorrow, so I was very happy to be able to get it in,” she said, adding that she may have tried to fight for an absentee ballot.
Warnock continues to overtake Walker as they enter the home stretch.
Warnock raised nearly $52.2 million from Oct. 20 to Nov. 16, a period that covers the end of the general election and roughly the first week of the runoff. Walker raised $20.9 million during that time, according to his campaign filings with the Federal Election Commission. Warnock ended the period with more than $29.7 million left in the bank, three times the $9.8 million left in his opponent’s coffers.
Warnock is set to bring a top Democratic surrogate: former President Barack Obama is set to travel to Atlanta on Thursday for a rally ahead of the final day of early voting.
So far, Obama is the only president, past or present, scheduled to visit Georgia before the runoff.
Neither President Joe Biden, whom Walker’s campaign tried to shut down Warnock, nor former President Donald Trump, who was in office when Republicans lost two Senate races two years ago, have scheduled trips to the state. On Saturday, Warnock appeared with Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) at a rally in Sandy Springs, just outside Atlanta.
Trump allies, including Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, have come out in force for Walker, the former president himself has not campaigned with the candidate he recruited.
Other Republicans, meanwhile, are rallying around Walker, with the Senate Leadership Fund, the super PAC aligned with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, pumping more than $10 million into the race since the general election.
In addition to the new influx of outside spending, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, up for re-election earlier this month, made his first appearance with Walker on the trail after tough-arming the former football great all fall.
Kemp defeated a Trump-backed primary challenger in May and then outspent Walker by more than 200,000 votes in the general election — a sign of both his crossover appeal to moderate Democrats and Walker’s difficulties in wooing Republicans.
But Democrats said they doubted Kemp could save Walker in a runoff election where Walker is the only Republican on the ballot.
“There are a lot of people who voted for Raphael Warnock and Brian Kemp,” said Jason Carter, the 2014 Democratic gubernatorial candidate and grandson of former President Jimmy Carter.
He called Warnock “a unique figure”, noting that he “got more votes than Herschel Walker and got more votes than any other Democrat”.
“People appreciate him. And they think of him as Raphael Warnock first, and his political party and all these other things afterwards,” Carter said.
A new potential flashpoint in the second round of the election emerged on Wednesday. The Georgia Supreme Court, in a separate legal battle, also reinstated the six-week abortion ban.
It was a policy victory for Republicans who had enacted that ban and defended it in court, but one that could come at a political cost, reigniting a backlash over the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade that emboldened Democrats and pushed moderate voters. their favor on the party’s path to a surprisingly strong showing in this year’s midterm elections.
Meanwhile, according to CNN exit polls, 28 percent of Georgia voters said abortion was the most important issue for their vote — second only to inflation at 37 percent.
Of those who identified abortion as the most important issue, 77% backed Warnock, compared to 21% who voted for Walker – a reversal of inflation, an issue which favored Walker by a margin of 45 percentage points.
53% of Georgia voters said abortion should be legal in all or most cases, and among those voters, 75% supported Warnock. Of the 43% who said it should be illegal in all or most cases, 87% supported Walker.
Already, both parties have pumped in more than $40 million in TV ads in the second round. Democratic groups have spent nearly $25 million, while GOP groups have spent nearly $16 million, according to ad tracking firm AdImpact.
In an effort to unite Republican factions, a Walker super PAC is sending out mailers touting Kemp’s support and trying to connect Warnock with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams. “You stopped Stacey. Now ditch Warnock,” they read.
“Who do you want to fight for you in the United States Senate? Do you want a guy who represents our values like Herschel Walker, or do you want a guy who’s next to Joe Biden 96 percent of the time?”’ Kemp said, borrowing a familiar line from Walker, at a rally last weekend in Cobb County .
Kemp also echoes this line of attack in a new TV ad released by SLF. The governor and McConnell’s team are also linking up to get out the vote efforts. SLF is bolstering Kemp’s state run, which has been focused on helping Walker, with a $2 million cash injection.
Warnock’s campaign is also trying to win over Republicans who effectively chose Kemp over Trump.
A new ad from the Warnock campaign features a woman who says she voted for Kemp this year and describes herself as a lifelong Republican, but goes on to say she won’t support Walker in the runoff because of his “lack of character.”
Warnock has also campaigned in Walker’s safest constituency: his home town. At an event in Wrightsville, where Walker played high school football, Warnock asked voters to separate the sports hero from the political candidate.
“I saw what your beloved son did on the field. I don’t mind giving credit where it’s due. That brother could dazzle you on that football field. He created a lot of excitement and did a lot for the great University of Georgia. And he deserves credit for that,” Warnock said. “But tonight, we’re on a different ballpark.”
At the same time, the Republican faced some backlash for an ad of his own — along with University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines, who has appeared with Walker in the past, and competing with transgender swimmer Leah Thomas, who became the center of attention. of the debate on the participation of transgender women. in sports and has been frequently attacked in the conservative media.
“For more than a decade, I worked so hard. Four a.m. practices to be the best. But in my senior year, I had to compete with a biological man,” Gaines says in the ad.
The spot was released days after a gunman reportedly targeted the LGBTQ community at a gay club in Colorado. One of the five dead was a transgender man.
