ATLANTA — Democrat Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker are headed to a runoff race next month after the Senate rivals fell short of collecting the votes needed to win the seat outright.
Depending on how the Senate races in Arizona and Nevada shake out, the Dec. 6 showdown between Mr. Warnock and Mr. Walker could determine which party controls the Senate.
Mr. Warnock outperformed Mr. Walker in the election Tuesday by a 49.4% to 48.5% margin, falling just shy of the 50% threshold needed to avoid a runoff under state law.
A third-party candidate, libertarian Chase Oliver, won 2% of the vote.
Mr. Walker, a football legend endorsed by former President Donald Trump, ran well behind Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, the Republican who refused to bow to pressure from Mr. Trump to overturn President Biden’s victory in the state in the 2020 election.
Mr. Kemp cruised to victory over Democrat Stacey Abrams, winning his race by 53.4% to 45.8%.
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Mr. Warnock has been here before. In 2020, he won a special election runoff race against Sen. Kelly Loeffler, while Democrat Jon Ossoff ousted Sen. David Perdue, handing Democrats control with a 50-50 split Senate and Vice President Kamala Harris casts the tie-breaking vote for Democrats.
Georgia voters now could have the chance for the second time in as many years to dictate the balance of power in the Senate.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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