Politics

Ga. Runoff Sets Early Voting Single-Day Turnout Record

NOV 29 2022·Updated NOV 30 2022

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Image credit: dailywire

The Facts

According to Georgia Deputy Sec. of State Gabriel Sterling, voters turned out in record numbers Monday to vote early in the Senate runoff election between incumbent Democrat Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker — the last US Senate race to be decided this election cycle.
FOX News
Early voting concludes Friday, with in-person Election Day slated for Dec. 6.
FOX News
Sterling tweeted that more than 300k Georgians voted Monday, breaking the previous record of around 233k votes in one day.
FOX News
Warnock and Walker are going to a runoff because neither received a majority of the votes in the Nov. 8 general election. Warnock won 49.4%, while Walker finished with 48.5%.
CBS News
If Warnock wins, Democrats would hold the 51-vote edge on Republicans in the chamber, while a Walker win would give the GOP leverage in a 50-50 Senate, and complete a sweep of this year's state-wide races by the party.
Business Insider
Early voting in the Georgia runoff could match the January 2021 Senate runoff, which saw 2M people vote before Election Day. But that year, there were two runoffs, and control of the Senate was hanging in the balance, fuelling turnout numbers.
NBC

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The Spin

Democratic narrative

Issues the Democrats hold near and dear, like bodily autonomy, are driving heavy early-voting turnout among young people, women, and Black voters, and that bodes well for Warnock. Even the long lines caused by Georgia’s restrictive voting laws haven’t diminished the enthusiasm of key Democratic voting blocs.

US News

Republican narrative

Whether they vote early or on Election Day, voters should remember how Warnock and Democrats have worked to divide the country. They painted the Georgia voter integrity law as racist suppression, but it’s done nothing to hinder turnout. Walker is the unifying candidate in this race, and he should prevail.