It’s been a marathon, not a sprint, for Georgia voters to settle on a long-term replacement for the late U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, who resigned from the Senate in 2019 amid ongoing health concerns.
One gubernatorial appointment and five statewide elections later, today’s U.S. Senate runoff election in Georgia will finally decide who will represent Georgia in the Senate for a full, six-year term.
Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC
Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC
U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock made his final pitch to voters Monday, with a series of stops in Metro Atlanta, including an appeal to Teamsters at a UPS facility, a stop at a barber shop with Killer Mike, and a rowdy GOTV rally at an Atlanta Brewery.
Warnock also had teams of surrogates like U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff and U.S. Rep.-elect Maxwell Frost fanned out across the state urging voters to get out to the polls, too.
Late Monday night, Warnock Tweeted a final message. “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I can’t have Herschel Walker representing my mama.”
Walker did a series of lower-key stops across the crucial North Georgia counties he’ll need to run up the score against Warnock. In Dawsonville, he did a lap around the famous Pool Room restaurant and took pictures with voters. In Ellijay and Kennesaw, his wife Julie Blanchard spoke to supporters, too.
In Walker’s final speech at the Governor’s Gun Club, he told a small crowd, “The best thing I’ve ever done, including the Heisman Trophy, and the Horatio Alger award, the best thing I’ve ever done is run for office right here.”
A poll released Monday by left-leaning Data for Progress has U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock slightly ahead of Herschel Walker, but well within the margin of error.
The survey of 1,229 likely Georgia voters found that 51% backed Warnock compared to 49% for Walker. The poll, which was conducted Dec. 1-5, has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
Most of the runoff polling puts Warnock, the Democratic incumbent, slightly ahead of, but statistically tied with his Republican challenger.
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Credit: TNS
Credit: TNS
LIVE UPDATES. The AJC will be posting updates throughout the day on our live blog about turnout and any issues reported at the polling. We’ll also have a team of reporters covering U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker’s election night parties, as well as the results as they start to come in.
Check out our round up of AJC resources and useful links here.
Of course, if you’re a Georgia voter and need to cast your ballot today, check out the state’s My Voter Page to confirm your precinct location and other information.
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PLUS ONE. Former President Donald Trump called into an election-eve tele-rally for Herschel Walker and made a final pitch for his longtime pal on Truth Social.
“To the Great State of Georgia, Get Out and Vote for the WONDERFUL Herschel Walker TOMORROW,” Trump wrote.
A few hours later, Walker picked up an endorsement from Trump’s biggest potential rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
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Credit: TNS
Credit: TNS
RUNOVER RUNOFFS? With long lines, a high price tag for counties, and origins in the Jim Crow era, look for Democrats in particular to revisit the idea of holding runoffs in Georgia at all after this year’s multimillion dollar Senate redo.
The Washington Post’s Atlanta-based Matt Brown has a deep dive into the history of Georgia’s runoff system and the calls from voting rights groups to abolish it today.
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TODAY ON THE TRAIL:
- Herschel Walker holds a meet and greet with supporters at the Marietta Diner.
- U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock will meet with supporters in Norcross this morning before they head out to knock on doors.
- Both candidates have election night watch parties in Atlanta.
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Credit: Ben Gray for the AJC
Credit: Ben Gray for the AJC
STEADY HANDS. Incoming Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns said Tuesday he’ll maintain the same team of top aides that his predecessor — the late David Ralston — cultivated.
Burns said he’ll reappoint Spiro Amburn as his top aide after he’s formally elected as the House’s leader in January.
He also said he’ll promote three veteran staffers to become deputy chiefs of staff: Veteran spokesman Kaleb McMichen, political operative Hayley Gahlau and general counsel Keith Williams.
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Credit: Courtesy photo
Credit: Courtesy photo
QUALIFIED. Sheree Ralston, the widow of the late House Speaker David Ralston and executive director of the Fannin County Development Authority, officially qualified Monday to run to succeed her husband in his state House seat.
After signing her paperwork at the Sloppy Floyd building in Atlanta, Ralston was in Ellijay to support Herschel Walker’s Senate campaign.
Along with Ralston, internet show host Brian K. Pritchard also qualified to run for the seat Monday.
But our colleague Mark Niesse reports that Pritchard is also under investigation by GOP Attorney General Chris Carr for allegedly voting nine times before his sentence in a felony forgery and theft case was complete.
Pritchard told Mark his sentence ended long ago and his voting rights had been restored. “I’ve not done anything wrong here. … I guess if you’re apprehending public enemy No. 1, here I am.”
Convicted felons are allowed to vote in Georgia once their sentences are complete.
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Credit: Alyssa Pointer/AJC
Credit: Alyssa Pointer/AJC
FIGHTING ANTISEMITISM. On the day of his runoff election, U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock and U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff urged the White House to create a new national strategy to monitor and combat antisemitism amid reports of rising hate crimes targeting Jewish people. Ossoff is the first Jewish senator to represent Georgia.
The letter from the two Georgians and other Senate members urges the administration to coordinate with other federal agencies to counter the disturbing trend.
“With antisemitism once again rearing its ugly head here in America, it is now critically important for us to work together to combat antisemitism with every tool we have,” they wrote.
Reports of antisemitic incidents have increased dramatically in Georgia in 2022, amid the controversies of high-profile celebrities such as the rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West. Former President Donald Trump also recently dined with Nick Fuentes, a white supremacist.
Separately, the White House announced plans to convene a roundtable with Jewish organizations on Wednesday chaired by Douglas Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris.
Among the attendees are Deborah Lipstadt, an Emory University professor who is the State Department’s special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, and former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, now a senior Biden adviser.
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Credit: Chip Somodevilla via The New York Times
Credit: Chip Somodevilla via The New York Times
SUSPENDED RELIEF. All six Georgia Democrats in the U.S. House, led by U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson, have written a letter to the head of the Georgia Department of Community Affairs requesting information about the state’s stalled rental assistance program. The temporary federal program was implemented to help people stay in their homes during the coronavirus pandemic.
Last month, the AJC’s Michael Kanell reported that the agency had stopped taking applications for the program, even though the state had more than $150 million in federal funds left to disburse. Some tenants who applied said they were approved for assistance, but found out later their approvals were rescinded in the department’s online portal.
Christopher Nunn, the department’s commissioner, told Kanell that the state stopped accepting applications to make sure it would have enough money to cover requests already being processed.
The delegation’s letter asks Nunn to provide information supporting that decision and to explain how the department plans to use the remaining federal funds.
“This termination potentially leaves thousands of Georgian families without shelter, jeopardizing Georgia’s economic recovery,” they wrote.
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TODAY IN WASHINGTON:
- The U.S. Senate will work through more nominations.
- The House returns today for a series of floor votes, including a possible vote on a Senate-passed bill codifying federal protections for same-sex and interracial marriage.
- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi hosts a Congressional Gold Medal ceremony honoring law enforcement officers who defended the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
- President Joe Biden will travel to Phoenix to discuss his economic agenda, including new laws intended to boost domestic manufacturing and address supply chain issues that flared up during the coronavirus pandemic.
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Credit: Alyssa Pointer/AJC
Credit: Alyssa Pointer/AJC
CIVIL RIGHTS COLD CASES. President Joe Biden has signed legislation Monday sponsored by U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff and U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams to give more time to a federal advisory board reviewing unsolved murders of Black people during the Civil Rights era.
The Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board was created in 2019, but then-President Donald Trump never appointed any members. Biden appointed four people to the board in June of 2021, including three with ties to Atlanta, who were all confirmed in February.
The legislation backed by Ossoff, Williams and others, including Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, extends the board’s term through 2027. The Senate approved the legislation in September, and the House signed off last month.
“With those crimes having been swept under the rug and never investigated, this is an opportunity to pursue justice and truth on behalf of those who were killed,” Ossoff said in a statement Monday. “There’s no expiration date on justice; that’s why this effort must continue.”
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THE FORECAST. A cold rain Monday across much of the state reminded election organizers that bad weather can lead to bad turnout, especially if Election Day in Georgia is the place you’re hoping to bring in most of your votes.
The forecast for today calls for warmer temperatures and more rain in North Georgia and scattered showers in the Metro Atlanta area and elsewhere.
Our once-and-always Insider Jim Galloway has the political forecast for the day, writing on Twitter Monday night: “Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2002, was a day of heavy rain — dampening Black turnout and dooming Gov. Roy Barnes’ re-election bid. 20 years later, with a Dem shift to early voting, it is the GOP that’s vulnerable to the weather. And rain is in the forecast for tomorrow.”
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AS ALWAYS, Jolt readers are some of our favorite tipsters. Send your best scoop, gossip and insider info to patricia.murphy@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com and greg.bluestein@ajc.com.
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