On Tuesday, December 6, Georgia residents had the opportunity to vote in the runoff election for senator between Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker, ending with victory for Warnock. After this election, the United States’ Senate is confirmed to be under Democrat control.

The two candidates first ran against one another in November, with Libertarian party candidate Chase Oliver running as well. Though the votes were close, none of the candidates accumulated the 50% of votes required to win the race in Georgia. Warnock and Walker each gained close to the target number of votes, garnering 49.4% and 48.5% of the ballots. After such a close call, Georgians knew that the next vote would be crucial for determining who their representative would be. Chloe Shearer (11) sees this as a major advancement for people of color in politics, saying, “With such a large percentage of the United States’ population being African American, it is about time that they get some representation in the Senate in the southern states.”

Less than a month later, Georgia residents lined up at the polls once again, preparing to cast their vote for the favored candidate. The election resulted in a slim victory for Warnock, gaining merely 51.4% of the votes. This is a monumental occasion for African American people in Georgia, with Warnock remaining as the first African American Georgia representative in the Senate.

Some credit Walker’s loss to allegations of violent tendencies in his past. The Daily Beast publication released an article which claims that five women who once had romantic relations with Walker found that he was abusive or unstable. This article has caused doubts of the candidate’s abilities for self-control to arise and may have even alienated potential supporters. Affiliations with Donald Trump have also caused backlash among some left-wing Georgians.  In predominantly liberal Atlanta, some voters were unhappy to see the candidate be associated with such a controversial ex-leader.

Warnock is sure to reflect the ideals of Democrats and was even considered to appeal more to the middle than the other candidates. The senator stands against police brutality and racial prejudice. He has worked as a pastor in communities with predominantly African American populations, such as Baltimore, Harlem, and Atlanta, where he was pastor at the same church as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Meghan Bagby (11) added, “Warnock seems to be an authentic Georgian, being very involved in the community.”

Georgia remains to be a purple, battleground state and is sure to be another contentious zone in the 2023 elections.