Incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock won reelection to the U.S. Senate over Republican challenger Herschel Walker by the thinnest of margins on Tuesday evening, Dec. 6, 2022.
Warnock was projected to win with 97 percent of the vote in at 10:30 p.m. EST with a margin of 1,721,025 to Walker’s 1,680,156, which translates to a 50.6 – 49.4 pecent margin, according to the New York Times.
It was a case of déjà vu for the Georgia electorate as they voted for the second time in a month for the Senate runoff election. It was prompted by Georgia law that went in effect after neither candidate passed the required 50 percent threshold in the November midterms.
With the victory over Walker, a beloved college football legend-turned-GOP candidate, Warnock was able to accomplish a few things in one fell swoop.
Foremost, Warnock, the senior pastor at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church — where both Martin Luther King Sr. and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were also pastors — will now return to the U.S. Senate and serve a full term.
Secondly, Democrats have a 51-49 majority and maintain control over all of the Senate committees.
Thirdly, the state of Georgia, which was a red state for three decades, will now remain blue since the other U.S. Senator in the state of Georgia, Jon Ossoff, is also a Democrat.
CNN reported at 10:50 p.m. EST that Walker would concede the election and officially recognize Warnock as the winner.
