Staff Reports
Unofficial results from the state show that with 97 percent of precincts reporting, Warnock was ahead of Walker by a margin that was less than one percent, making it a razor's edge victory.
Chase Oliver, the candidate for the Libertarian Party, received two percent of the vote, which is enough to lower Walker and Warnock's prospects of reaching the threshold of fifty percent of the vote that is required by state law to win the race outright.
Shortly after 2:00 in the morning, the Chief Operating Officer for the Secretary of State, Gabriel Sterling, said on social media: "While county officials are still doing the detailed work on work on counting the votes, we feelit is safe to say there will be a runoff."
While county officials are still doing the detailed work on counting the votes, we feel it is safe to say there will be a runoff for the US Senate here in Georgia slated for December 6. #gapol pic.twitter.com/uwMF2EoDzO
— Gabriel Sterling (@GabrielSterling) November 9, 2022
After Warnock won his original election in 2021, which was one of two blockbuster Senate contests in Georgia that resulted to Democrats taking control of the Senate majority, it is reasonable to anticipate that there will be a runoff election the following year.
The outcome of this year's runoff could be all too familiar depending on the final race calls in Nevada and Arizona, where vote counting is still proceeding and the races remain too close to call. In both states, the races remain too close to call. If the Republicans were to win one of those, the majority in the Senate would once again depend on the runoff election in Georgia.
As a direct result of the election reform bill sponsored by Republican Governor Brian Kemp and enacted into law in 2021, the duration of a runoff election will be reduced from nine to four weeks starting in the year 2020.
Tuesday night, the campaigns of both Walker and Warnock voiced optimism regarding their chances of winning the election.
During his speech to fans at an election night celebration in Atlanta, Walker, a football icon at the University of Georgia and a former player in the National Football League, invoked the fictional NASCAR hero Ricky Bobby of the film Talladega Nights.
"I'm like Ricky Bobby. "I don't come to lose," Walker added.
.@HerschelWalker: "I'm tellin' you right now — I'm like Ricky Bobby. I don't come to lose." pic.twitter.com/mLSZglunOe
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) November 9, 2022
After 1:30 in the morning, Warnock, a longstanding pastor at the famous Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, made an appearance in front of a crowd and boasted that he was ahead of Walker in the race.
"We are not certain if this voyage is completed tonight or if there is still a little work remaining to be done, but this is what we do know. Warnock stated that "we are aware that when they are finished counting the votes from today's election, we are going to have received more votes than my opponent."
Sen. Warnock: "We are not sure if this journey is over tonight or if there's still a little work yet to do, but here's what we do know; we know that when they're finished counting the votes from today's election, that we're going to have received more votes than my opponent." pic.twitter.com/8MtZJOSALu
— CSPAN (@cspan) November 9, 2022
The high-profile election, which will likely be prolonged into a taxing runoff, has evolved into one of the most expensive and contentious contests now taking place in the United States.
According to OpenSecrets, the staggering amount of $271 million that has been spent on the election places it in second place, behind only the key state of Pennsylvania, in terms of overall money spent.
The participation levels this year were indicative of a strong level of interest. More than half of the state's registered voters participated in the midterm elections in Georgia, which resulted in more than 3.9 million ballots being cast.
The preceding is a summary of an article that originally appeared on Breit Bart.
