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☆ In Georgia’s Runoff Election, Midterm Turnout and Blank Ballots Might Reveal Who Has the Edge
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-04 | by ( Danny Dougherty | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Georgia will have its second runoff Senate race in less than two years after Democrat Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker finished within 1 percentage point of each other in November. Mr. Walker and Mr. Warnock earned backing from supporters across the state. Now they need to garner the votes that they left on the table in November. Mr. Walker may hope to mobilize Georgians who voted Republican elsewhere on the ballot, while Mr. Warnock could face less pressure if turnout declines. Precincts he lost had a higher turnout rate.

☆ Georgia's Republican lieutenant governor says he couldn't bring himself to vote for Herschel Walker
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Georgia's Republican lieutenant governor said he couldn't vote for GOP candidate Herschel Walker. He previously said that Walker "hasn't earned my respect or my vote." Duncan told CNN that he went to vote on Wednesday but ultimately didn't vote for either Republican Herschel Walker or Democratic incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock. Duncan said in October that Walker, who has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump, had not yet earned his vote. "I'm not voting for Raphael Warnock, and Herschel Walker hasn't earned my respect or my vote," Duncan told CNN at the time.

☆ Obama slams Herschel Walker for musing if it's better to be a vampire or a werewolf: 'He can be anything he wants to be except for a United States senator'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Brent D. Griffiths | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Walker mused during a speech whether he would want to be a vampire or a werewolf. "I don't know if you know, but vampires are some cool people, are they not?" "This would be funny if he wasn't running for Senate," Obama said. Obama wanted to make sure that people knew Walker ultimately decided that he would be a werewolf. "As far as I'm concerned, he can be anything he wants to be besides a United States senator," he said.

☆ Early voter turnout accelerates in Georgia Senate runoff after record-breaking day
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Kevin Breuninger | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Georgia's early-voter turnout is accelerating in the high-profile Senate runoff race between Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Trump-backed Republican Herschel Walker — even after voters already crushed the state's in-person record for early voting the previous day. "As of noon, we've had 118,130 Georgians cast an early vote today," Sterling tweeted, adding, "Don't know if it will stay that rapid." The data show that more than 48% of early voters are white and about 38% are Black, and that Black voters are showing up to vote early at a higher turnout rate. The early voter turnout also appears to skew female, 55% to 44%, according to the state elections office. The Dec. 6 runoff in Georgia was scheduled after neither Warnock nor Walker won more than 50% of the vote in the November general election.

Georgia Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock raised $52.2 million for his re-election between Oct. 20 through Nov. 16, more than doubling the fundraising total of his opponent, Republican Herschel Walker. Warnock, the top fundraising federal candidate of the 2022 election cycle by a long-shot, spent $39.2 million over the same period, which almost doubled Walker's spend too. Walker still raised a significant amount over that fundraising period — $20.9 million. His campaign spent $16.5 million and closed with $9.8 million on hand. If you’re just getting read back in after the holiday week, here are a few other headlines you may have missed ahead of next week’s runoff:

☆ Asian American voters are flexing their political muscle in the Georgia Senate runoff
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-27 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Both the Warnock and Walker campaigns have courted this crucial bloc ahead of the Senate runoff. Ballots cast by Asian American voters rose dramatically from 2016 to 2020, from 73,000 votes to 134,000 votes, respectively, according to the Democratic polling data firm TargetSmart. Per CNN exit polling from the November general election, Warnock won Asian American voters by 20 points over Walker (59%-39%). Brian Kemp cultivated relationships with Asian American voters during his successful campaign. "We're the only demographic group that keeps going up," Georgia state Sen.-elect Nabilah Islam told Politico.

☆ Fact Check-Election graphs published by Mike Lindell do not indicate U.S. voter fraud
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +9 min

A series of graphs published by My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell on his social media channels and livestreams appearing to show real-time U.S. midterm election updates do not indicate or prove fraud, experts told Reuters. Lindell published four graphs on his Instagram account purporting to show real-time vote counts during the elections. But such ‘spikes’ seen in graphs using unofficial election data do not indicate or provide proof of fraud, with races rarely officially called on election night (here). The four graphs appearing to show real-time midterm election data do not point to fraud or nefarious activity. Visualizing unofficial vote counts in real-time where the incoming data may be non-uniform in distribution can lead to apparent “spikes” in graphs, experts told Reuters.

The Georgia Supreme Court on Wednesday denied the state Republican Party's bid to block early voting in the state's hotly contested Senate runoff from moving forward this Saturday. Early voting is required to be available statewide Monday through Friday of next week. The state Republican Party appealed the decision, arguing it was allowing “illegal advance voting.”The dispute centered on a provision of Senate Bill 202, signed by Republican Gov. Raffensperger contended that meant there could be no early in-person voting on Nov. 26, the Saturday following Thanksgiving. In a court filing, Democrats said at least 19 counties with a total of over 4 million residents were planning on offering early voting on Saturday.

CNN —Republican Herschel Walker is getting a tax break intended only for a primary residence this year on his home in the Dallas, Texas, area, despite running for Senate in Georgia. Walker registered to vote in Atlanta, Georgia, in 2021 after living in Texas for two decades and voting infrequently. 11Alive News, a local Georgia station, first reported that Walker took the homestead exemption on his Texas home in 2020. The county tax office in Texas where Walker maintains his home confirmed the exemption. Homeowners in many states are able to apply for a tax exemption by declaring their home to be their primary residence and the exemption lowers their tax bill by removing part of their home’s value on paper.

☆ Woman challenges Republican Herschel Walker to face abortion claim in public
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, Nov 22 (Reuters) - A woman who alleges that U.S. Senate candidate Herschel Walker pressured her into having an abortion in 1993 on Tuesday challenged the Republican, who has said he opposes abortion with no exceptions, to meet her publicly before next month's Georgia run-off election. Walker has called the woman's allegations, first made publicly on Oct. 26, untrue. The woman and her attorney presented voice recordings they claimed to be Walker's. The attorney has said the woman has years of material, including receipts and greeting cards, documenting her romantic relationship with Walker from the late 1980s through the 1990s. A Warnock victory would expand Democrats' razor-thin margin in the Senate by one, giving President Joe Biden's party more room to maneuver.

Former President Barack Obama is heading to Georgia next week to rally supporters for Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock ahead of the state's Senate runoff on Dec. 6. Obama will campaign with Warnock on Dec. 1, and encourage Georgians' to cast early ballots, per the former president's team. Obama's office noted that after his Oct. 28 rally for Warnock, attendees “signed up to complete hundreds of door knocking shifts.”Early voting for the Senate runoff between Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker begins on Nov. 28 and runs through Dec. 2. The state's new voting law reduced the early voting period.

☆ Trump is reportedly furious that top Republicans are trying to persuade him not to campaign in the Georgia Senate runoff: report
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Trump furious Republicans are trying to dissuade him from campaigning in Georgia runoff, per Rolling Stone. Trump's status in the GOP has taken a big hit after the midterm elections. Republican Herschel Walker faces Democrat Raphael Warnock in the Senate runoff in December. Trump endorsed hundreds of candidates in the midterm elections, in a bid to cement his hold over the Republican Party before announcing his 2024 bid. Trump's relentless promotion of election fraud conspiracy theories in 2020 was blamed by some for the Republican Party's two Georgia Senate runoff defeats last year.

☆ Pence says he was 'surprised' that Republicans didn't win more seats in the midterm elections
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-20 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Mike Pence said he was "surprised" that Republicans didn't win more seats in the 2022 midterms. While on the CBS program "Face the Nation," Pence said citizens want the GOP to focus on the future. During an interview on the CBS program "Face the Nation," Pence told host Margaret Brennan that while he wanted to see larger Republican margins in Congress, a "win is a win." "A win is a win, but I would have liked to see more Republicans elected to Congress. I would have liked to have seen a Republican majority in the Senate."

Here are several of the ways the new law could affect voters in the runoff. Plus, due to an ongoing lawsuit against the state, it remains uncertain whether one Saturday early voting day, on Nov. 26, will be allowed. This year, that would mean there would be no early in-person voting on Nov. 26, the Saturday following Thanksgiving. But under Georgia law, runoff voting may not begin until after officials have certified the general election vote, which will be on Monday, Nov. 21, per the Georgia Secretary of State’s office. "But now because of SB 202, you can only do that during the hours of early voting, which can often be a regular 9-to-5."

Raffensperger, a Republican, had maintained that changes to Georgia voting laws meant that there could be no early voting on Nov. 26, the only Saturday when it would have been possible for Georgians to cast an early vote in the hotly contested race. Brian Kemp in March 2021, which stipulates early in-person voting must end the Friday before the runoff. The law also stipulates early in-person voting not be held on any Saturday that follows a “public or legal holiday” on the preceding Thursday or Friday. Raffensperger contended that meant there would be no early in-person voting on Nov. 26, the Saturday following Thanksgiving. Voting rights groups have pushed counties in Georgia to open up early in-person voting on Nov. 22, 23 and 27.

In retaining their seats in Nevada and Arizona, while picking up a Republican-held seat in Pennsylvania, Democrats clinched control of the Senate even as the race in Georgia remains undecided. If Sen. Raphael Warnock is able to hold his seat in a Dec. 6 runoff against Republican Herschel Walker , Democrats will have actually gained a seat in a year in which Republicans hoped President Biden’s low approval rating would hand them the reins of both chambers of Congress.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., meets with reporters Wednesday after he fended off a challenge by Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and was re-elected as Republican leader. And we turned off a lot of these centrist voters," McConnell said Wednesday. “Much criticism is being placed on the fact that the Republican Party should have done better. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., speaks after he was nominated to be House speaker on Tuesday. “What I hope we learned from this is you can’t win the general election merely because of your base vote.

☆ Sen. Raphael Warnock weaponizes Trump's 2024 announcement and endorsement of Herschel Walker in Georgia runoff
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Nicole Gaudiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Sen. Raphael Warnock is weaponizing Donald Trump's endorsement of his campaign rival, Herschel Walker, in a new ad. The 30-second ad spotlights Trump's endorsement of Walker as he and Warnock head toward a runoff election in December, since neither candidate won 50% during the midterm election. The tagline at the end says "Stop Donald Trunp" and "Stop Herschel Walker." Warnock for Georgia Campaign Manager Quentin Fulks in a statement said Walker "surrounds himself with some of the most divisive politicians in Washington, so it's no surprise that he has Donald Trump's endorsement. Drew Godinich, the committee's senior director of communications, said, "even with Trump's baggage, Herschel Walker remains the biggest threat to Republicans' hopes of winning this race."

☆ Why the Georgia Runoff Election Still Matters
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Republicans won’t run the Senate in the next Congress, but whether they have 50 votes or only 49 after the Dec. 6 Georgia runoff still matters a great deal to policy outcomes. The contest in Georgia between Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker is for six years, not two as in 2020, which means this will matter to organizing the Senate for three Congresses. The GOP has a favorable electoral Senate map in 2024, and every seat will make a difference in how many Democratic incumbents Republicans would need to defeat to regain the majority in what could be a difficult presidential election year for the GOP. (See nearby.)

☆ Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff says the difference in competence between Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker is the 'most dramatic that I have ever seen in electoral politics'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff said fellow Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock is "an asset to the nation." Ossoff told Insider that Warnock stood above his opponent in "qualifications, competence and quality." Warnock is locked in a competitive Dec. 6 Senate runoff election with Republican Herschel Walker. "The contrast between Senator Warnock and his opponent in terms of preparedness, in terms of qualifications, competence and quality, is the most dramatic that I have ever seen in electoral politics," Ossoff told Insider. In the November general election, Warnock led Walker 49.4%-48.5%, with the incumbent Democrat receiving 1,946,139 votes to 1,908,424 for Walker, per Insider and DDHQ.

☆ Judge overturns Georgia’s ban on abortion after around 6 weeks
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

A judge overturned Georgia’s ban on abortion starting around six weeks into a pregnancy, ruling Tuesday that it violated the U.S. Constitution and U.S. Supreme Court precedent when it was enacted and was therefore void. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney’s ruling took effect immediately statewide, though the state attorney general’s office said it planned to appeal. Circuit Court of Appeals allowed Georgia to begin enforcing its abortion law just over three weeks after the high court’s decision in June. Those women could then either travel to another state for an abortion or continue with their pregnancies. During a two-day trial in October, abortion providers told McBurney the ban was causing distress to women denied the procedure and confusion among doctors.

WASHINGTON — Races for more than a dozen House seats remained uncalled as of Monday afternoon, leaving political control of the chamber unknown nearly a week after voting in the 2022 midterms general election cycle concluded. Most of the 18 House seats that NBC News has not called are in California. That includes the competitive race between GOP Rep. David Valadao and his Democratic challenger Rudy Salas to represent the state's 22nd Congressional District. NBC News estimates Republicans will hold 219 seats, while Democrats will control 216 seats, with a plus-or-minus 4-seat margin of error. Members of the House Republican Conference are set to hold their closed-door election to pick their leaders for the new Congress on Tuesday.

☆ Democrats maintain control of Senate, NBC News projects, defeating many Trump-backed Republicans
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-13 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Alex-Seitz-Wald-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Alex Seitz-Wald | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona won his re-election contest in Arizona, NBC News projected Friday evening, directing all eyes to Nevada. Because so many people worried — I did — about this democracy," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said at a news conference late Saturday. A Walker win would keep the Senate 50-50, where Vice President Kamala Harris casts the tie-breaking vote for Democrats. Build something new," Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley tweeted after it became clear his party had lost hope of retaking the Senate. Ballot measures to support abortion rights won in Michigan, California and Vermont, while an anti-abortion measure on the ballot in Kansas was defeated, NBC News projects.

Control of the Senate - and the shape of President Joe Biden's next two years in office - will now hinge on contests in Nevada and Georgia. Democrats needed one more seat for control, since Vice President Kamala Harris can cast the tie-breaking vote. Political analysts anticipate a rush of campaign funds into Georgia as Republicans and Democrats gear up for the final battle of the 2022 midterm elections. In the fight for control of the House of Representatives, Republicans were inching closer to becoming the majority and ending four years of rule by Democrats. The Republican House leader, Kevin McCarthy, has already announced his intention to run for speaker if Republicans take over, an outcome he has described as inevitable.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) gestures, walking out of the Senate Chamber, celebrating the passage of the Inflation Reduct Act at the U.S. Capitol on Sunday, Aug. 7, 2022 in Washington, DC. TDemocrats will hold their razor-thin majority in the U.S. Senate, NBC News projects, staving off a full-bore effort by Republicans to leverage economic volatility and public discontent into control of the upper chamber of Congress. The party will hold at least 50 seats in the Senate in the next Congress, after incumbents held their ground in key races and Democratic Lt. Gov. Democrats currently control the Senate split 50-50 by party through Vice President Kamala Harris' tiebreaking vote. Mark Kelly of Arizona and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada both prevailed in their closely contested races, NBC projected after days of counting in both states, clinching the chamber for Democrats.

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