'Very significant': 5 reactions to Warnock's defeat of Herschel Walker in Georgia runoff

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Wednesday, December 07, 2022

Georgia Dem Senate candidate U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., waves to supporters as he walks on stage to speak during an election night watch party at the Marriott Marquis on Dec. 6, 2022, in Atlanta, Georgia. | Win McNamee/Getty Images

Minister and Democrat incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock defeated Republican challenger and former football player Herschel Walker in Georgia's runoff election on Tuesday, further solidifying Democrat control of the upper chamber of Congress.

With around 99% of votes counted, Warnock, 53, was declared the winner, having gotten over 1.8 million votes (51.4%), compared to Walker's approximately 1.7 million votes (48.6%).

About 3.5 million Georgians voted in the runoff, around 400,000 fewer than those who voted in November. Walker's total on Tuesday was about 200,000 votes fewer than in November.

This marks the second time that Warnock won a runoff election, the first being in January 2021 when he defeated Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who was appointed to replace retiring Sen. Johnny Isakson.

"There's no excuses in life, and I am not going to make any excuses now because we put up one heck of a fight," said Walker in his concession speech.

Democrats will have a 51-seat majority in the U.S. Senate in the 118th Congress, strengthening their narrow majority.

The following pages highlight five reactions to Georgia's runoff results.