Warnock Drubs Walker In Georgia Senate Runoff: NBC News

Sen. Raphael Warnock has won his second statewide runoff election in the last two years, defeating Republican Herschel Walker in the purple state of Georgia to capture a six-year term in the Senate, NBC News reported.

Photo Insert: The home stretch of Reverend Raphael Warnock's runoff campaign was graced by Former President Barrack Obama, who provided a scalding takedown of the former's opponent, Herschel Walker, stating that he once also had the debate about whether it was better to be a vampire or a werewolf - when he "was seven" but then "grew up."

The contentious contest caps a 2022 midterm cycle that was unexpectedly bright for Democrats as GOP candidates faltered in key contests, particularly those backed by former President Donald Trump, like Walker. Warnock’s victory gives Democrats a more comfortable 51-seat majority in the Senate.

After 97% of the votes were tallied, Warnock garnered 1,721,025 votes or 50.6% while Walker got 1,680,156 or 49.4%. By midday on Dec. 7, only 98,819 ballots remained to be read.

At least 1.33 million people voted in Georgia on Tuesday as of 6:00 p.m. ET, an hour before polls closed, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said.

That number approaches the nearly 1.5 million people who voted in the state on Election Day in November, Rebecca Shabad, Adam Edelman, Nicole Acevedo and Sahil Kapur reported for NBC News.

"That will push us very close to what we had for Election Day voting we had a month ago,“ Raffensperger said Tuesday night on CNN. The more than 1.33 million in-person voters on Tuesday are in addition to an excess of 1.85 million votes that were cast ahead of Tuesday’s contest, breaking records.

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