Georgia Senate election between Warnock and Walker headed to runoff, secretary of state’s office says

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The Georgia Senate election between incumbent Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker is headed to a runoff election, the Georgia Secretary of State’s office confirmed to Fox News.

The Fox News Decision Desk still sees pathways for Warnock to win a majority of the vote.

The runoff election will take place on December 6.

Walker, who won a Heisman Trophy and helped steer the University of Georgia to a college football national championship four decades ago, jumped into the GOP race to face off against Warnock in the summer of last year, after months of support and encouragement to run for the Senate by former President Donald Trump, his longtime friend. It is the former football star’s first run for office.

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Warnock, the senior pastor at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church where Martin Luther King Jr. used to preach, narrowly defeated Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler in a 2021 special election and was running to serve a full six-year term.

Walker spent the past couple of months tying Warnock to President Biden — who remains very unpopular among Georgia voters — and blamed both for the record inflation plaguing the nation and for the rise in crime.

Thanks to his legendary status among many in Georgia and his immense, favorable name recognition in the Peach State, Walker was the overwhelming front-runner for the GOP Senate nomination and basically ignored the field of lesser-known primary rivals, declining to take part in debates as he focused his campaign on Warnock.

Walker ended up trouncing his rivals in the May primary, but he quickly came under fire as the general election got underway.

Walker was heavily criticized both on the campaign trail and in ads over what Democrats call his numerous “bizarre or false statements.”

A TV ad by Warnock’s campaign that launched over the summer highlighted past comments by Walker saying that he had a “dry mist” that would “kill any COVID on your body.”

Walker also took fire over numerous reports that he overinflated the success of his businesses and academic record.

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Even before he faced bombshell allegations in September and October that he reportedly paid for a girlfriend’s abortion 13 years ago — which he denied — Walker was forced to play defense regarding a number of other personal controversies, from the accusations of past abuse and threats against his first wife, to acknowledging children he fathered out of wedlock that he had not previously publicly mentioned, despite having criticized absent fathers for decades.

Warnock’s campaign repeatedly targeted Walker for what they charged was a “pattern of lies, disturbing behavior and positions prove he is not ready to represent Georgia in the U.S. Senate.”