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Georgians will have the last uncalled race of the 2022 midterm elections on Tuesday. The runoff between Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker comes after neither won a majority of votes in November. Unlike last year, the race will not determine the balance of forces. in the Senate, but saw a record number of early votes. Reports through Laura Barrón-López.
Amna Nawaz:
Tomorrow, Georgians will participate in the last unconvened race of the 2022 midterm elections.
The runoff between Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker comes after neither won a majority of votes in November. Unlike last year, the race won’t balance strength in the Senate, but it remains neck and neck, with record numbers. of early voting.
Laura Barron-Lopez went to Georgia and has this report.
Laura Barrón López:
Outside a polling place at a Decatur mall are some of the other people who turned blue in Georgia in 2020 and are now looking to repeat.
Cliff Albright, Black Voter Affairs Fund:
Oh, I see you dancing. Let’s go. It’s true.
Are you okay? Can I give you a first push? Oh!
Laura Barrón López:
Here and across the state, the mobilizing organization Black Voters Matter is providing a loose T-shirt for a voter’s phone number.
Cliff of Albright:
Now all you have to do is pass this on to five friends. If everyone we touched tells five other people about this, guess what?That’s how you build an army. This is how we build a movement.
Laura Barrón López:
Cliff Albright is one of the founders of the organization and has lived in Georgia for more than a decade. Since 2016, he and others have had their say for Democrats in the state. This runoff, he says, reached at least two million black voters.
Cliff of Albright:
How do we excite other people?How do you make other people feel like they matter, right?There are many other people who care about black votes who don’t care about black voters.
We need other people to know that we care about them, our communities, and our problems.
Laura Barrón López:
Many of the other people we spoke to in this predominantly black, Democratic domain supported Sen. Raphael Warnock, pastor of nearby Ebenezer Baptist Church, where the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once preached.
Senator Raphael Warnock (D-GA):
Are you in a position to win this election?
(Applause and applause)
Laura Barrón López:
Warnock has slight merit in recent polls as she fights for a full six-year term against Republican Herschel Walker, a Georgian soccer legend with the full backing of former President Donald Trump.
Georgians at this Atlanta early voting site have been lining up for more than an hour as they went out to vote. Walker and Senator Warnock had just 28 days, out of two months, to get the electorate to the polls for a moment.
Herschel Walker (R), Georgia Senate candidate: What you’ve done to this country in two short years, we’re giving you more time, we won’t be America anymore.
Laura Barrón López:
Republicans see a critical floor to catch up. Walker ended up with Warnock alone last month. But he got 200,000 fewer votes than Republican Gov. Brian Kemp.
The two campaigned together to try to close that gap, and Kemp argued that Walker would vote for enforcement and cut taxes in the Senate.
Governor Brian Kemp (R-GA):
Do you need a guy who represents our values like Herschel Walker, or do you need me to be with Joe Biden 96% of the time?
Laura Barrón López:
For months, Walker faced a series of scandals, which added allegations of domestic violence and two ex-partners who said Walker became stressed and paid to have an abortion, contradicting Walker’s anti-abortion stance.
At a Walker event in dark red Muscogee County, Republican voters took the football star’s word or said they were seeking a reliable vote against President Joe Biden’s agenda.
Lecturer:
It defends the values that I defend. I am a pro-life person. I don’t like the policies of the Biden administration.
Laura Barrón López:
What did you learn from reports that he paid for the abortion of one of his ex-girlfriends?
Lecturer:
I don’t know what to do anymore. People can say anything. I also in redemption and I that other people can make mistakes and replace their lives.
Laura Barrón López:
These repeated accusations and mistakes worry Republicans about Walker’s ability with conservatives and 81,000 others who supported the Libertarian nominee in November.
Walker’s supporters hope to win them back.
Baoky Vu is skeptical.
Baoky Vu, former vice president of the DeKalb County Board of Elections and Recorder: I don’t know if they will be motivated to vote.
Laura Barrón López:
Vu is one of 200,000 split ticket Republicans who supported Kemp, but Walker, voting for Warnock.
Baoky-vu:
To ask us to vote for Herschel Walker, the candidate, is to play Russian roulette with American democracy.
Laura Barrón López:
Vu, a former vice chairman of the DeKalb County Elections Committee, has spoken out in favor of the integrity of Georgia’s vote in 2020. He considers Walker’s statements denying the legitimacy of the election disqualifying and does not believe that the runoff will cause anti-Walker Republicans to reconsider their decision. .
Baoky-vu:
Herschel Walker was fortunate to stand on the aspect of facts and honesty, in the same way that Governor Kemp did, in the same way that Secretary Raffensperger did. Instead, he necessarily took a stand on a waterbed of lies.
Lecturer:
If you are an election observer, God bless you.
Laura Barrón López:
But the Republican base, confidence in lies about a rigged electoral formula, remains strong.
At GOP headquarters in Cobb County, many volunteer as election observers in the runoff and are encouraged to report any fraud or disenfranchisement.
Lecturer:
There is no incident that is too small.
Laura Barrón López:
After a prayer, work began on telephone banking and prospecting for Walker.
Joyce Wice said she believed Walker was fair and would have fiscal responsibility in the Senate. When asked about allegations that she had paid for an abortion, she replied that it did not correspond to her supposed values.
Joyce Wice, voter:
Herschel Walker, in a direct quote, said it was a blatant lie. And I did.
Laura Barrón López:
Walker’s main message was replaced for the time being.
Herschel Walker:
I am that warrior for God.
Laura Barrón López:
His local speech was a vote for Democrats to send Georgia to hell and focused on transgender players in sports and gender identity.
Herschel Walker:
What is a pronoun? I don’t even know what a pronoun is, but I can tell you what. We’ll give you a pronoun. Let’s put an old senator’s pronoun on it. That’s his pronoun.
Senator Raphaël Warnock:
This career is all about skill.
Laura Barrón López:
Warnock also draws on his general election playbook, bringing back former President Barack Obama to rally the electorate in Kirkwood.
Barack Obama, former president of the United States: I’m back. Yes we can.
Laura Barrón López:
About 5,000 more people gathered at Pullman Yards, a historic railroad backyard turned celebratory, to hear him speak.
Barack Obama:
Keep mobilizing.
Laura Barrón López:
Several black Georgians told NewsHour they viewed Walker’s candidacy as an attempt by Republicans to win them over through representation rather than substance; 69% of white voters, compared to just 3% of black voters, Walker, according to a recent CNN poll.
Karen Dodson, Warnock Voter:
I think a lot of other people are just irritated by their opponent, and that forces other people out.
Laura Barrón López:
Irritated how?
Karen Doson:
Irritated because he feels he can update one black user with another. And we don’t have common sense. So, give me at least one comparable intellectual.
Laura Barrón López:
In recent days, Warnock has focused on voting rights and the lawsuit she filed and won her crusade against Republican state officials to allow early voting on Saturday.
Senator Raphaël Warnock:
We had record voter turnout last weekend, but we don’t know what we had to do to make that happen.
Laura Barrón López:
It’s the first runoff since Georgia passed Senate Bill 202 last year, making it harder to get a mail-in ballot, reducing the number of mailboxes and shortening early voting.
Republican officials pointed to the record early turnout as evidence that the law does not limit access. But Albright said those adjustments made all the difference.
Cliff of Albright:
Two years ago, we were able to spend a month registering new circular voters just for the time being who were not eligible for the general election. We may simply not do so because, in a 30-day period, the deadline for voter registration was the day before the general election.
Lecturer:
Hello. Hello.
Lecturer:
How are you today
Laura Barrón López:
BlackPAC, like other polling organizations, reaches millions of voters knocking on doors until the last days before the election.
Lecturer:
good morning.
Lecturer:
I am with a black PAC, reminding other people of the choice of the 6th.
Laura Barrón López:
The Senate may already be determined, but the stakes for an increasingly varied Georgia can’t be higher, either.
For PBS NewsHour, I’m Laura Barron-Lopez in Atlanta, Georgia.
Laura Barron-Lopez is a White House correspondent for PBS NewsHour, where she covers Biden’s management of the nightly newscast. She is a political analyst for CNN.
Tess Conciatori is a political assistant at PBS NewsHour.
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