Democrat Warnock takes the lead with early votes over Republican Walker in Georgia run-of

Georgia’s polls closed at 7 p.m., with Democratic incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock taking an early lead over Republican Herschel Walker as votes cast early were reported first in the Peach State’s pivotal Senate race. 

Thre Trump-backed Walker is expected to close the gap as the count goes on. 

‘With the numbers we have we’re looking at close to 3.3 million, which is really much more than any of the pundits or consultants expected,’ said Gabrielle Sterling, the chief operating officer in the office of the Georgia Secretary of State on CNN Tuesday, about an hour after polls closed. 

Sterling said the higher-than-expected turnout was ‘everywhere’ and not in specific blue or red counties.

‘So there’s no good way to say who’s winning or losing on this day, which means we’ll actually have to go through this torturous thing of actually counting the votes,’ Sterling said. 

The race will determine whether the Democrats win an outright majority in the upper chamber, or will continue to need the assistance of Vice President Kamala Harris as a tie-breaker vote. 

If Warnock wins, Democrats will also gain a majority on Senate committees. The current 50-50 makeup means that committees have equal members of each party, making it more difficult for legislation to pass through. 

Journalists on the ground, including from The New York Times, reported that few voters encountered long Election Day lines, while in the Atlanta area some voters who voted early waited for more than two hours.  

Sterling tweeted around noon that the average wait time for voters statewide was three minutes, with the longest recorded being 32 minutes in Cherokee County. At around 4 p.m., the state was averaging a one-minute wait time, Sterling later tweeted.  

Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock had an early lead over Republican Herschel Walker as early vote totals were the first to be released on election night 

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A voter casts a ballot in-person during Tuesday’s Senate runoff race in Georgia. Republicans are banking on good turnout today, as the early vote tends to boost Democratic candidates

Republican candidate Herschel Walker poses for a picture with a supporter at the Marietta Diner, where he made an Election Day stop Tuesday 

A supporter takes a selfie with Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, who’s hoping to win a full six-year term in the U.S. Senate Tuesday 

During campaign trail appearances Tuesday, Warnock and Walker had fighting words about one another. 

‘Right now, I’ll put my character against Raphael Warnock any day,’ Walker said at an Election Day campaign stop at the Marietta Diner in Marietta, Georgia, after a reporter pointed out that ‘the issue of character is very important to voters.’

Walker, a Georgia football Heisman winner and ex-NFL player backed by former President Donald Trump, had a number of accusations thrown at him during his run, including that the pro-life Republican pressured girlfriends to have abortions and was abusive toward family members. 

Walker denied the abortion claims and said he’s been up front about previous mental health struggles. 

Walker is hoping to oust Warnock from his Senate seat, keeping the Democrats at a 50-50 split, instead of a true majority, should the Democrat win. However, every single poll conducted during the runoff period has shown Warnock ahead. 

Warnock gathered supporters at a canvass kick-off event in Norcross, Georgia and remarked how he had been on the ballot five times in just over two years. 

‘So I’m fully acquainted with tired,’ he said. ‘But let me tell you my definition of tired this morning: having to be represented by Herschel Walker for six years.’

‘That, my friends, will be exhausting,’ the Democrat added. 

‘Right now, I’ll put my character against Raphael Warnock any day,’ said Republican Herschel Walker (right) at an Election Day campaign stop Tuesday at the Marietta Diner in Marietta, Georgia 

‘But let me tell you my definition of tired this morning: having to be represented by Herschel Walker for six years,’ said Demoratic Sen. Raphael Warnock from Norcross, Georgia on Tuesday 

Georgia voters wait in line to vote Tuesday in the state’s runoff Senate race between Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker 

Warnock and his top surrogate, former President Barack Obama, have characterized Walker as someone clueless about public policy, who won’t be able to do the job of U.S. senator. 

Warnock hasn’t helped himself – going viral when he talked about preferring to be a werewolf over a vampire at a campaign stop in mid-November – and accidentally saying that this ‘erection is about the people.’ 

‘The people of Georgia deserve someone who will walk with them. And Georgia’s better than Herschel Walker,’ Warnock said Tuesday morning. 

‘I’m not talking about his humanity. I’m talking about his fitness to serve,’ Warnock continued. 

‘Georgia’s better than that,’ he added. 

Warnock has already served two years in the Senate after his 2020 special election went to a runoff against Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who Republican Gov. Brian Kemp had selected to take the place of retiring GOP Sen. Johnny Isakson. Warnock’s win on January 5, 2021 was to finish Isakson’s remaining two-year term.

After winning a primary and qualifying for the runoff in 2022, he’s on the ballot to win a full, six-year term. 

Warnock said the Democrats weren’t leaving anything up to chance. 

‘Which is why we’re standing out here getting sprinkled and baptized again,’ said Warnock, who serves as the senior pastor at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. preached. 

A sample ballot is displayed at Zion Baptist Church during the midterm Senate runoff elections in Marietta, Georgia

Voters wait in line outside a polling place Tuesday in Columbus, Georgia to decide the final Senate race of the 2022 midterms 

Residents stand outside an Atlanta polling place holding umbrellas on Senate runoff Election Day in Georgia 

Warnock warned that while early voting looked strong – nearly 2 million Georgians went to the polls before Election Days with Democrats tending to prefer early voting – Walker still had ‘a path.’ 

‘The job is not done. The truth is my opponent could still win this election,’ Warnock said. ‘More of our voters tend to vote during the early period and more of his voters tend to vote on election day.’ 

At the Marietta Diner, Walker expressed optimism that he would pull it out. 

‘Gonna get out and win this election. Herschel Walker gonna be your senator and gonna get things changed,’ he told reporters. 

The men are on the ballot again because neither hit the requisite 50 percent plus one vote to win the race outright in November. 

In the initial vote, Warnock finished ahead with 1,943,737 votes to Walker’s 1,907,272 votes, or 0.9 percent. 

As he left the diner Tuesday, Walker refused to answer a question of whether he would concede.