- Georgia's Senate race is headed to a runoff between Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker.
- Control of the Senate could rest on Georgia if neither party wins both Arizona and Nevada.
The closely watched race between Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and his Republican challenger Herschel Walker for Georgia Senate is headed to a runoff election, potentially leaving control of the upper chamber hanging in the balance.
Neither candidate earned more than 50% of the vote — the threshold required by Georgia law to win an election — as of Wednesday afternoon, according to projections by Insider and Decision Desk HQ. That means the two will face off again in four weeks on December 6.
After Democrats won Senate races in New Hampshire, Colorado and Pennsylvania on Tuesday evening, the party only needs to secure Arizona and Nevada to hold the Senate. But if both of those battleground states are won by Republicans, then they control the Senate.
And if the results are split, then the fate of the Senate rests on Georgia.
—Decision Desk HQ (@DecisionDeskHQ) November 9, 2022
Georgia's runoff election could become a repeat of the battle for the Senate that played out less than two years ago. In the immediate aftermath of the 2020 elections, Democrats won 48 seats and Republicans picked up 50, but Georgia was still up for grabs as its two Senate races advanced to runoffs on January 5, 2021.
Warnock was victorious against his Republican opponent Sen. Kelly Loeffler, while Democrat Jon Ossoff defeated his GOP rival David Perdue. The wins delivered Democrats the majority in an evenly divided Senate, with incoming Vice President Kamala Harris as the tiebreaking vote.
The Senate races in Arizona and Nevada haven't been called yet as votes are still being counted.