Sen. Raphael Warnock, the Democrat first elected in a runoff election one day before the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, defeated Republican challenger Herschel Walker after a four-week runoff in Georgia. His victory gives Democrats a 51-49 majority in the Senate, which frees them from relying on Vice President Kamala Harris to cast tie-breaking votes and also empowers them to hold majorities on all Senate committees. Perhaps just as important, Walker's defeat is another blow to the prestige of former President Donald Trump, who saw many Republican candidates he endorsed lose in the 2022 midterms.
With 97 percent of the expected vote counted in Georgia at 10:30 pm Eastern time, Warnock led Walker by just over 40,000 votes, a margin very similar to his advantage in the November general election. At that time, Warnock fell just short of the 50% threshold required by Georgia election law, which forced the runoff.
