The 2022 Midterm elections still aren’t over.
There is still the December 6 U.S. Senate runoff in Georgia.
And though control of the Upper Chamber has already been decided, all the weight of the GOP’s future fortunes is riding on the wide shoulders of Herschel Walker.
It could have been worse
The 2022 Midterm elections were not what Republicans were hoping for.
In fact, they were a historical disappointment.
Typically, when a party controls the White House and both Houses of Congress the Midterms are tough for them.
If the President is unpopular, as is the case with President Joe Biden, that makes it even worse.
And if there is a bad economy, which Americans are currently suffering through, it’s generally a nightmare scenario for the party in power.
And that’s before you factor in surging crime rates, a crisis on the southern border, a deadly fentanyl epidemic, leftist indoctrination in the classrooms, and boys being allowed to dominate girls’ sports.
With all that in play, the GOP was expecting much more than an incredibly narrow majority in the House and a best-case scenario of breaking even in the U.S. Senate.
However, with recent calls for incumbent Democrats Catherine Cortez Masto in Nevada and Mark Kelly in Arizona, that’s exactly what Republicans are facing.
The fact is, unless Herschel Walker can outperform his general election performance, the GOP will actually have a net loss of a seat this cycle.
All eyes on the Peach State
Incumbent Democrat Sen. Raphael Warnock actually defeated the Georgia Bulldog legend on election day by just shy of a single point.
36,288 votes separate Warnock and Walker, but fortunately for the Heisman Trophy winner, Georgia election law has a 50%+ provision.
That means that unless one of the candidates scores a true majority, a head-to-head runoff will be held between the top two candidates.
In this case, Warnock secured just 49.4% of the vote, compared to Walker’s 48.5%.
That’s because Libertarian candidate, Chase Oliver scored 81,252 votes, good enough for 2.1% of the ballots cast.
Even if Oliver weren’t in the race, the NFL All-Pro running back would have needed to secure virtually all of Oliver’s support to have surpassed the 50%+1 threshold to avoid a runoff.
Now all eyes are on Georgia for what will likely be decided in a turnout battle.
Still a lot on the line in the runoff
Some political commentators are suggesting Walker is at a disadvantage because Democrats will have the majority in the Upper Chamber no matter the result of this election.
That is because a Walker win would only get Republicans to 50 seats, and Democrats have the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Kamala Harris.
However, there is a big difference between having a true majority and having a tie-breaking majority.
The main difference?
Committee assignments.
If Warnock gains re-election, Democrats will hold a 51-49 seat advantage – allowing them to have complete control of committee assignments.
However, if Walker is able to unseat Warnock, there will be a 50-50 tie in the Senate – meaning all committees will have an even distribution of Republicans and Democrats.
That would allow the GOP to block some Democrat legislation before it gets to the full body for a vote.
The runoff is Tuesday, December 6, but, of course, even in the runoff, there is early voting and absentee voting, which both start November 28.
