Madison Kwiecinski – Editor-in-Chief 

Mvk5945@psu.edu

Today, Georgia voters are heading to the polls in order to determine which party will win the highly contested Senate seat. Raphael Warnock is the incumbent Democratic Senator, while Herschel Walker is the Republican challenger for the seat. 

Currently, Democrats hold 50 seats in the Senate while Republicans have 49, meaning this seat will either secure a democratic majority, or split the Senate directly 50/50. In the case of the Senate returning to an even split, Vice President Kamala Harris would act as the tie breaking vote in the Senate. 

Georgia has been taking a very prominent role in national elections over the last few years. This is the second time in two years a Senate race has been determined by a runoff election in Georgia. Despite the political prominence that has been evident in the state, voters are still pushing forward with no signs of slowing down, even breaking reporting records for early voter turnout. 

The Georgia election has drawn national attention, and many prominent individuals have stepped forward to speak for their side, even hosting political events in support of candidates. For example, Dave Matthews Band held a concert in support, several actresses held canvassing events. 

Former President Barack Obama came to support Warnock at a rally in Atlanta stating, “I’m here to tell you that we can’t let up.” He continued, “I’m here to tell you we can’t tune out. We can’t be complacent. We have to run through the tape. And I know you can do it because you did it before.” 

The former President has been traveling the country all election season, giving statements meant to eviscerate Republican candidates in a way most politicians cannot pull off so easily. 

“Since the last time I was here, Mr. Walker has been talking about issues that are of great importance to the people of Georgia. Like whether it’s better to be a vampire or a werewolf,” The former President continued, “ In case you’re wondering, by the way, Mr. Walker decided he wanted to be a werewolf. Which is great. As far as I’m concerned he can be anything he wants to be, except a United States Senator.” 

Biden, however, has not gone to Georgia to speak prior to the runoff election, and seems to be utilizing a strategy of keeping his distance from the candidates, so as to not become a drag on their campaigns. Biden also kept his distance from many other democratic candidates in the midterm elections, a strategy that proved to be successful when Democrats far surpassed expectations for the election. 

Heading into the runoffs today, it is important to note that a record breaking number of Georgia voters have already cast their ballots, with approximately 300,000 voters voting each day last week. Over 1.8 million citizens of Georgia have already voted. 

The demographics of this election have been interesting as well. It is notoriously difficult to get younger generations to the polls, but so far more than a quarter of early-voting has been people under the age of 50. Additionally, Black voters have accounted for nearly a third of all early voting in the state. 

Georgia election law mandates that if the candidate does not receive 50 percent of the vote, the election is sent to a runoff, hence why the last two elections have ended with all eyes on Georgia. Based on the current polling demographics, it appears Warnock picked up a substantial number of independent voters in order to gain his lead over Walker. 

Additionally, there were also clearly a number of voters who voted Republican down the ticket on everything except Senator. Brian Kemp, the newly elected Georgia Senator received approximately 200,000 votes more than Walker. 

If the Democrats secure a majority in the Senate by claiming this final seat, it will change the balance of seats on committees, as the opposing party receives less power when they lack a majority. Therefore, even though Democrats already have a voting majority with the Vice President, this seat is still a very important seat to watch.