Hello it’s the weekend. This is The Weekender ☕
If Georgians are sick of political ads…well tough peaches because the deluge will continue.
Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and Herschel Walker are headed to a runoff on December 6 after neither surpassed 50 percent of the vote. Warnock came tantalizingly close, with 49.42 percent of the vote. Walker was back by about another point.
The Warnock campaign, in an event on Thursday, framed the runoff as a vote for “character and competence.” In a memo, the campaign highlighted that Walker ran behind Gov. Brian Kemp (R). “Of nine statewide Republican candidates, Walker was one of only two who failed to clear two million votes,” the memo said. “Walker not only failed to meet the benchmarks set by Republican candidates this cycle, he also underperformed Trump’s 2020 vote share in rural, suburban, and urban counties.”
Much will depend on two states to Georgia’s west: Arizona and Nevada. If Democrats sweep both, which looks likely, the runoff will matter much less than if they only win one. Fifty-one Democratic seats is a perk in some ways: a safety net if someone dies or falls ill, less ground to make up in the hostile Senate landscape of 2024 and, as former TPMer Brian Beutler compellingly argues, a guarantee that Democratic committee chairs get subpoena power. But 50 vs. 51 is indisputably a smaller gap than 49 vs. 50, where chamber control hangs in the balance.
Team Walker is probably really hoping that one of the southwestern states falls through for Democrats. That’ll make even some ambivalent Republicans hold their noses and vote for him.
If Democrats win both, it’ll be a tougher sell. Walker won’t have Kemp’s coattails to ride, and it’s hard to argue that a brighter spotlight and absence of other races competing for national attention are advantages for a man who seems to have a new skeleton tumble out of his closet every day.
More on other news below. Let’s dig in.
