Dems' Senate win lowers stakes of GA runoff
Dems' Senate win lowers stakes of GA runoff
Runoff takes on new meaning after Dems win Senate
News networks over the weekend reported that Democrats would maintain their majority in the U.S. Senate after winning key races in Nevada and Arizona.
Though Democrats are projected to hold 50 seats, they will still control the chamber because Vice President Kamala Harris casts the tiebreaking votes.
The weekend development dramatically lowers the stakes of the upcoming Georgia U.S. Senate runoff between Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker. The two will face off once again on December 6 after neither received more than 50% of the vote in last week’s election.
Some argue that the new dynamics of the race could favor Sen. Warnock, who finished slightly ahead of Walker in last week’s vote. Walker has tried to tie his Democratic rival to President Joe Biden, who remains unpopular in Georgia.
With a Democratic Senate now guaranteed, Walker will struggle to frame the race as a check on the President. But Republicans still plan to make a serious play for the seat: we learned that Mitch McConnell is urging Republican Gov. Brian Kemp to share many of his resources with the Walker campaign.
Democrats are going to try to make the race about character. Warnock has argued that his opponent is now qualified to serve in the U.S. Senate. “His own staff says that he lies like he’s breathing,” the Democrat told supporters last week.
Democrats, who have been stuck with a 50/50 Senate for the last two years, are going to argue that Warnock’s 51st vote could prevent Vice President Harris from having to cast tiebreaking votes. It could make it easier for them to pass legislation over concerns from two moderate Democrats: Arizona’s Kyrsten Sinema and West Virginia’s Joe Manchin.
President Biden, a creature of the Senate for many decades, said over the weekend that a 51-49 Senate would mean that you don’t have to even up the makeup of committees. “But it’s just simply better,” he said. “The bigger the numbers, the better.”
While the Georgia runoff won’t decide Senate control, some Republicans in Congress are calling for leadership elections to be postponed until after December 6.
It could be seen as a jump start for the 2024 race for President — particularly on the Republican side. Top aides to former President Donald Trump are urging him to hold off on announcing his run for President until after the December 6 runoff.
And some Walker aides have suggested that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, fresh off his landslide re-election victory, could offer more political capital than Trump. According to CNN:
A person close to the Walker campaign said DeSantis would be “a huge draw if we could get him,” noting that the Florida governor did not campaign for Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp despite being just over the border and recently stumping for candidates in New York, Arizona, Nevada and Pennsylvania.
But if DeSantis does in fact get involved, Trump would be hard-pressed to stay on the sidelines. Trump has increasingly viewed the Florida governor as a threat to his presidential comeback plans. It’s a stunning turn of events for the two men, who once shared the stage at campaign rallies.
But the two could be on their first real collision course in the upcoming Georgia runoff. It might not decide the balance of power in Washington, but it could very well reshape American politics for the coming years.