Seth Meyers
Seth Meyers celebrated Raphael Warnock’s victory over Herschel Walker in the Georgia runoff election on Tuesday, which secured a clear majority in the US Senate for Democrats. Walker, a former football star backed by Donald Trump, “was so deeply unqualified that much of the time it seemed like he didn’t even know what was going on”, said Meyers.
Walker’s loss – the latest disappointment for a slate of Trump-backed candidates – was greeted with light condemnation from Republican pundits. On Fox News, Laura Ingraham and Kellyanne Conway blamed Walker’s loss on the fact that “a lot of people” at the “top of the Republican party” told voters not to vote early or by mail for the past few elections.
“It’s so amazing to watch these people suddenly start complaining about the consequences of their own actions,” Meyers mused. “You were Trump’s fiercest supporters when he was claiming mail-in voting led to fraud, and now you’re whining that the Republicans don’t vote by mail? Sorry, but you can’t complain about a neck bite after you open the door and invite in a vampire.”
Ingraham, with “the energy of a country club patron who’s been made aware they’ve changed chefs”, according to Meyers, also blamed Senate Republicans for not campaigning enthusiastically enough for Walker. “You’re mad that Senate Republicans didn’t want Walker to join them?” Meyers laughed.
“You think they wanted to spend all their down time between votes talking about whether vampires are cooler than werewolves,” he added, referring to a particularly indecipherable Walker rant. “You think that’s Mitch McConnell’s idea of a good time? Besides, you know he’s going to pick vampires. He’d never side against one of his own.”
Stephen Colbert
On the Late Show, Stephen Colbert blew dust off jokes written to celebrate Walker’s loss a month ago, when the narrow midterm race headed to a runoff. Among them: “this is a tough break for Walker, though it will take him a couple days to understand what has happened,” “with this loss, Walker is expected to return to his previous job: lying about having previous jobs” and “on the bright side, it gives him more time to spend with his family, and more time to figure out who that is.”
In his concession speech, Walker appeared upbeat, assuring his supporters that “we’re all winners”.
“That’s true, Herschel. In some ways, we’re all winners,” Colbert responded. “Not in this way; in this way, you lost. But in other ways, we’re winners.” In celebration of his “winning and losing”, the Late Show offered Walker a trophy labeled “World’s Most Dad”.
Walker’s loss was “another blow” to Donald Trump. “Even before last night, the major candidates that he endorsed in Nevada, Arizona, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Michigan all lost,” Colbert cheered, leading some Republican insiders to claim that Georgia “broke” Trump for good. “Yes, Georgia broke him,” Colbert said. “Or as I just texted everyone in my phone: peach emoji, fist emoji.”
Trevor Noah
Raphael Warnock only beat Herschel Walker by 2 points? Georgia, that is too close. pic.twitter.com/mPpfr74KKQ
— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) December 8, 2022
“You couldn’t have had a race between two more different candidates,” said Trevor Noah of the Georgia runoff.
“When you take a moment, when you step away from this race – do you understand how crazy this was?” he continued. “You had Raphael Warnock, a pastor. A pastor who is preaching at the same church as MLK. And Herschel Walker, a man who thinks MLK is how you spell milk.”
Despite that, it was a close race – Warnock won by about two percentage points. “If I was Raphael Warnock, my victory speech wouldn’t have been me smiling,” said Noah.
“He’s a gracious man – he was talking about democracy and America’s promise,” he added. “I would’ve been up there like ‘are you people kidding me with this shit?!’ You guys are giving me a two-point win over this walking vasectomy commercial? Are you kidding me?!’”
Jimmy Kimmel
And in Los Angeles, Jimmy Kimmel credited Warnock’s victory to “staying focused on his primary message to Georgia voters, which was ‘I am not Herschel Walker’”.
“And with the election behind him, Herschel says he will now focus on his true passion: having more kids than Nick Cannon,” he joked.
“Herschel has decided to step away from the spotlight to spend more time denying allegations from his family,” he added.
Kimmel also celebrated yet another high-profile loss for a candidate backed by Donald Trump. “An endorsement from Trump is almost as worthless as a degree from Trump University,” he noted.
