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Is Georgia Senate Race Headed To December Runoff?

Is Georgia Senate Race Headed To December Runoff?
Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker speaks at a campaign event alongside former governor of South Carolina Nikki Haley in Gwinnett, Georgia. (Megan Varner/Getty Images)

John Gizzi By Thursday, 29 September 2022 05:42 PM EDT Current | Bio | Archive

With most polls showing the Georgia Senate race a near-tie between Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker, there is growing speculation that the contest will be thrown into a run-off between the two.

Because Georgia is the lone state in the nation requiring a run-off between the two top vote-getters if none receive a majority in November, the question of who rules the Senate now split 50-to-50 between the major parties may not be decided until December 6.

A just-completed Beacon Research poll conducted for Fox News showed Warnock, who won a special election for remaining two years of the late GOP Sen. Johnny Isakson's term in 2020, leading University of Georgia football great Herschel Walker by 46 to 41 per cent among likely voters statewide.

In contrast, a Data for Progess poll conducted earlier this month showed the two major candidates in a dead heat with 46 percent each.

Neither poll—nor any conducted on the heated Senate contest—includes the third candidate, Libertarian Party nominee Chase Oliver.  A successful import shipper, Oliver is the first openly gay candidate to seek major office in the Peach State and is running on a platform of adding gay Americans to civil rights legislation, ending the war on drugs, and simplifying immigration laws.

"I predict there will be a January runoff for the US Senate race," InsiderAdvantage publisher Phil Kent of Atlanta told Newsmax. "According  to Georgia law, a candidate has to get 50 percent plus one to win. Neither Warnock nor Walker at this point is poised to get a majority."

To those who concluded that Oliver's views are "un-Georgian" and that the Libertarian could not get enough votes to force a run-off,  several local observers pointed out that both Senate races in 2022 (one a special election and the other a race for a full term) ended with no candidate achieving a majority.  With minor party candidates managing single digits in the initial races, Both went to December run-offs and were won with roughly 51 percent of the vote by Democrats Warnock and Jon Ossoff.

Had one or the other lost, Republicans would have maintained their Senate majority. 

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John-Gizzi
With most polls showing the Georgia Senate race a near-tie between Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker, there is growing speculation that the contest will be thrown into a run-off between the two.
georgia, raphael warnock, herschel walker
358
2022-42-29
Thursday, 29 September 2022 05:42 PM
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