ATLANTA -- Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker will meet in a Dec. 6 runoff in Georgia after neither reached the general election majority required under state law.
Walker had a storied career at the University of Georgia from 1980 to '82. He led the Bulldogs to an undefeated record and national championship in 1980. In 1982, he won the Heisman Trophy. Georgia went 34-5 in his three seasons. David Lamanna Jersey
After a stint in the USFL, Walker played for more than a decade in the NFL, making two Pro Bowls.
But it's not just football that voters are paying attention to. Walker's rocky past came under scrutiny during the campaign and will again in the four-week blitz up to the runoff. Republicans, meanwhile, are hammering Warnock over inflation during the Democratic administration.
Depending on the outcomes in other Senate contests, this could reprise the 2020 election cycle, when two Senate runoffs in Georgia doubled as a national winner-take-all battle for Senate control. Victories from Warnock and Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., left the chamber divided 50-50 between the two major parties, with Vice President Kamala Harris giving Democrats the tiebreaking vote. Cormac Ryan Jersey
It will mean another month of Warnock hammering Walker, who is making his first bid for public office, as unqualified and Walker assailing Warnock as a rubber stamp for the White House.
"Raphael Warnock votes with Joe Biden 96% of the time," Walker has told voters repeatedly. "He's forgotten about the people of Georgia." Prentiss Hubb Jersey
Warnock, who is also the senior minister at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, answers that Walker is "not ready" and "not fit" for high office. That's an allusion to the celebrity athlete's rocky past, from allegations of violence against his ex-wife to accusations by two women Walker once dated that he encouraged and paid for their abortions despite his public opposition to abortion rights.