WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — With the midterms for Congress having ended largely in disappointment for Republicans, eyes now turn to Georgia, where a runoff election for the U.S. Senate’s last outstanding seat will decide if the chamber’s current balance will be preserved or shift in Democrats’ favor.
On November 8, the election for the seat concluded with the Democrat incumbent, pro-abortion “Reverend” Raphael Warnock, receiving 49.4 percent of the vote and his Republican challenger, football player and business owner Herschel Walker, receiving 48.5 percent. Because neither candidate reached above 50 percent, the two must square off in a runoff election on December 6 (minus Libertarian candidate Chase Oliver, who got 2.1 percent).
For months, many on both sides predicted that Republicans would sweep into strong majorities in both chambers of Congress in response to President Joe Biden’s unpopular handling of numerous issues. Instead, the GOP barely won a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives and failed to wrestle the Senate from razor-thin Democrat control.
If Walker, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, is able to unseat Warnock, it would preserve the Senate’s current 50-50 split, under which Vice President Kamala Harris breaks tie votes, which require every single Democrat to vote in lockstep. But if Warnock wins reelection, Democrats will have more leeway to lose the support of moderate Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.
Walker, who is running as a pro-life conservative, was hit during the campaign with late allegations that he facilitated abortions for women he had slept with, which Walker said is a “flat-out lie.” Warnock, by contrast, is openly pro-abortion despite being a Baptist pastor, and faces his own allegations of impropriety pertaining to his ex-wife and child support.
Over the weekend, political commentator Deroy Murdock wrote that, contrary to some conservatives’ assumption that the runoff would be little more than a footnote in light of the other midterm results, electing Walker remains of the utmost importance.
“Ending Election 2022 precisely where it began, after such Sturm und Drang, would be tragicomic,” he wrote. “Nonetheless, if GOP senators unite, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York could get nothing done without Democrat unanimity, whereupon Vice President Kamala Harris would break tied votes.”
“This potential stalemate would empower non-crazy liberals” Manchin and Sinema “to derail Democrats’ wackier impulses, such as ditching the filibuster, packing the Supreme Court, nationalizing elections, or turning Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico into states,” Murdock continued. But if Walker loses, “the Senate would house 51 Democrats and 49 Republicans. This would make it much harder for Manchin or Sinema to stop Democrats from turning 90 degrees Left.”
Murdock also quoted a point made by Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who said that liberals hope destroying Walker will “deter people of color from wanting to be conservative Republicans because you just have your life ruined […] The conservative movement for people of color is on the ballot in Georgia.”
Many possible factors have been identified as potentially contributing to Republicans’ overall midterm underperformance, with competing factions of the conservative movement currently holding fierce online debates as to which are most to blame.
Among them are Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell withdrawing financial support for certain candidates; Trump redirecting midterm donations to his own organization instead of midterm candidates and his elevation of questionable candidates in Republican primaries; Democrats themselves funding weaker Republican candidates in primaries; potential election fraud and Democrats’ effective harvesting of early votes and mail ballots; manipulation of swing voters by Big Tech; establishment Republicans failing to offer a compelling contrast to Democrats over the last two years; and the long-term results of left-wing bias in media and education.