Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker will face off in a December 6 runoff election in Georgia with a 4-week campaign blitz unlike any other

• Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker are set to face off in a Dec. 6 Senate runoff, per Insider and DDHQ.
• The timeframe between the general and runoff elections will be shorter than the 2021 runoffs.

It's official.

The hotly-contested race between Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker is headed to a December 6 runoff election since neither candidate hit the 50% threshold of victory mandated by state law, per Insider and Decision Desk HQ.

Warnock is the senior pastor of Atlanta's historic Ebenezer Baptist Church who was elected to the Senate in a January 2021 runoff election to fill the remaining term of Republican Johnny Isakson. He has now seen his name on the ballot before Georgia voters four times over the past three years — in November 2020, January 2021, and May and November 2022. The upcoming runoff will mark the fifth time.

Walker — a former University of Georgia football standout and ex-NFL player — is a first-time candidate who was backed by former President Donald Trump and most of the Republican establishment on Capitol Hill.

But both candidates are walking into a different scenario than two years ago, when Warnock emerged from a multicandidate special election as the top vote-getter. At the time, President Joe Biden's electoral victory in the Peach State buoyed Democrats headed into dual runoff elections, resulting in victories for Warnock and now-Sen. Jon Ossoff.

Republican leaders have long been energized to elect Walker to the Senate. But after the GOP nominee faced accusations that he had paid women he was involved with to have abortions — along with the lack of a huge national Republican wave on Election Night — he must try to shore up enthusiasm for his candidacy among the party faithful.

The time between the general election and the runoff is shorter

After Warnock and Ossoff flipped both of Georgia's Senate seats from then-GOP Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, respectively, Republicans were dismayed by their losses in what had long been a stronghold for their party.

During the period between the November 2020 general election and the January 2021 runoff, Democrats registered new voters, launched get-out-the-vote efforts, and were energized by Biden's nearly 12,000-vote win in the state over Trump.

But Georgia Republicans last year passed a bill that reformed the state's voting laws, shortening the window between the general election and the runoff, which effectively prevents new voters from being able to register and also cast ballots in the December 6 runoff. To meet eligibility requirements to cast a ballot in the runoff election, an individual must have been registered to vote by November 7.

The Biden and Trump factors

In 2020, Biden became the first Democratic presidential nominee to capture Georgia since Bill Clinton in 1992.

But by November 2022, Biden was largely unpopular in the Deep South state, hampered by inflation concerns and other larger economic frustrations among voters.

While former President Barack Obama visited Atlanta to stump for both Warnock and Democratic gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams in the run-up to the election, Biden stayed away from the swing state throughout the campaign season.

However, Trump also remains polarizing to a wide swath of voters — especially after the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol — despite his continued appeal among GOP base voters and the specter of a third presidential bid in 2024.

If Walker were to bring Trump to the state to campaign for him, it is likely to activate even more Democrats to come out for the runoff election — while also potentially hurting the Republican candidate's prospects.

Walker fared poorly in most of the suburban jurisdictions surrounding Atlanta, and he will have to perform well enough to overcome Democratic margins in those areas if he is to win the runoff next month.