The 2022 Midterms

[GermanSuplex]

He was hand picked by Trump, who is directly responsible for this loss. Had Republicans actually chosen a more viable candidate they likely would've won. Until the party decides as a whole to distance themselves and denounce him they're just going to keep losing ground they could handily win otherwise. He's the gift that keeps on giving for Democrats.

Yeah, he said nice things about Trump and Trump kinda remembered him and so that made him qualified to represent a state he didn’t live in.

 

[lizkat]

Not even that close any more... with >95% of the vote in.

 

[Yoused]

Everybody who is not Herschel Walker's wife is very happy to not be Herschel Walker's wife tonight.

 

[lizkat]

Everybody who is not Herschel Walker's wife is very happy to not be Herschel Walker's wife tonight.

Yeah. Warnock's ahead by like 92k votes and still counting now. Did the Rs learn anything from 2022? They still don't throw Trump overboard? Did they all fail arithmetic?

It's all because of Trump-touted MAGA candidates that the Senate isn't 53-47 Republican starting next month, and all because of Trump-touted MAGA candidates that Kevin McCarthy will be managing a win margin in that chamber that he can count on one hand, if he can even keep all the Republican ducks in a row on any vote.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

It’s a bad week to be ketchup in Mar-a-logo.

 

[mac_in_tosh]

He was hand picked by Trump, who is directly responsible for this loss. Had Republicans actually chosen a more viable candidate they likely would've won. Until the party decides as a whole to distance themselves and denounce him they're just going to keep losing ground they could handily win otherwise. He's the gift that keeps on giving for Democrats.

But the GOP's problem is that if they denounce Trump he might run himself and other local candidates on a third party and possibly hurt them even more.

 

[lizkat]

It’s a bad week to be ketchup in Mar-a-logo.

It's a worse week to be an actual Republican Party leader, since nominal leader Trump could not care less what happens to the GOP as a result of his own actions. And it's only Wednesday.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution confirms that support for Senator Warnock rose in the runoff election versus the vote in November.

Warnock gained ground against Republican Herschel Walker in almost every county since the first election four weeks ago, according to preliminary results.

Warnock’s support grew in 148 of Georgia’s 159 counties, including both rural Republican-leaning areas and Democratic bastions in metro areas.

What changed in US Senate runoff? Small gains for Warnock across Georgia

The runoff for U.S. Senate mostly mirrored the general election, with a key difference: Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock won a bit more of the vote in almost every county.

www.ajc.com

Turnout almost always falls in runoff elections, so get-out-the-vote efforts really mattter, and every vote does count. Every lawsuit against voter suppression counts too. As Warnock reminded people last night, Georgia had to be taken to court to allow the early voting calendar to proceed as originally planned, and so to include the Saturday before the runoff election.

Even so, total early voting days had been made fewer by changes to state law, as had the total campaign period. Prior law allowed a minimum of 16 days of early voting, now the minimum is 5 days and until the state was taken to court, it also tried to eliminate the Saturday after Thanksgiving because of language in a different law. The new law also says a runoff must be held not later than 28 days after a general election. The state left unchanged a different law that says voters must be registered 30 days prior to any election, so campaigns for a runoff must focus on turnout of the existing electorate rather than a registration drive.

Bottom line the turnout effort on both sides in the 2022 runoff in Georgia was pretty good, since total votes cast were only around half a million fewer than those cast in the general election. On that earlier date the ballot had also included a governorship race, contests for all of Georgia's seats in the US House, several state commissioners and the state's attorney general.

Edit: current totals for the runoff show Warnock with about 97k margin. He won by 36k in November.

 

[fooferdoggie]

He was hand picked by Trump, who is directly responsible for this loss. Had Republicans actually chosen a more viable candidate they likely would've won. Until the party decides as a whole to distance themselves and denounce him they're just going to keep losing ground they could handily win otherwise. He's the gift that keeps on giving for Democrats.

yes but then when the runoff was announced trump dropped his support. not that it really mattered but still.

 

[Alli]

I will never understand how this election was as close as it was. How did almost half the state vote for Walker?

 

[Eric]

I will never understand how this election was as close as it was. How did almost half the state vote for Walker?

It's hard to understand. It was also Warnock's fifth election overall for the state, that man has endured to say the least and the whole runoff thing seems so pointless and costly. Most elections are decided within a point or two as it is, maybe they should focus on getting their numbers right the first time.

 

[lizkat]

It's hard to understand. It was also Warnock's fifth election overall for the state, that man has endured to say the least and the whole runoff thing seems so pointless and costly. Most elections are decided within a point or two as it is, maybe they should focus on getting their numbers right the first time.

Well but the law says a candidate must win with a majority. So if a multiparty race doesn't produce that result...

 

[Eric]

Well but the law says a candidate must win with a majority. So if a multiparty race doesn't produce that result...

I would argue the one with the most votes wins the majority, even if it's below 50%. Honestly this is totally pointless and takes an already slighted system of suppressing voters and makes it harder.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/05/georgia-runoff-history/

While 10 states use runoffs in primary elections, Georgia and Louisiana are the only two that do so in general elections. Georgia’s system was created in 1964 after the urging of Denmark Groover, who blamed Black voters for a reelection loss and proposed runoffs. Groover later acknowledged the runoff system was intended to suppress Black political representation.

While runoff elections had existed for decades in Southern primaries, Georgia’s enthusiastic adoption of two-round voting came as a way of “ensuring a conservative White candidate won an election,” said Ashton Ellett, a political historian and archivist at the University of Georgia.


“A runoff makes it harder for folks who have less resources to vote. This was before advanced in-person voting or [voting was offered] by mail and when we had many other unfair, iniquitous, undemocratic policies. It wasn’t for a partisan advantage so much as an ideological and cultural one,” Ellett said.

 

[Roller]

I will never understand how this election was as close as it was. How did almost half the state vote for Walker?

It ended up better than I expected as the results were coming in last night, but still too close for comfort. Imagine what wold have happened if the Republicans had run a more competent candidate than Walker. (A low bar, know.)

I think most of the people who voted for Walker did so only because he had an "R" next to his name. Even the ones who were aware of his extreme unfitness to hold any elected office figured he'd vote and do as he was told in the Senate.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

I will never understand how this election was as close as it was. How did almost half the state vote for Walker?

STOP. THAT. More than half the state didn’t vote at all. About 17% voted for Walker. It’s my current personal mission to rail against “Half the state/country” propaganda. It's extremely misleading, disingenuous, and a falsehood both sides try to use to their advantage.

 

[SuperMatt]

Walker’s initial numbers were propped up by people who voted for Kemp and then just went straight ticket. There were many Kemp supporters who just stayed home for the runoff.

 

[Eric]

Herschel Walker's son says Trump called his father for months demanding that he run, while 'everyone with a brain' begged him not to

Herschel Walker was dogged during his Georgia Senate campaign by allegations including that he paid for women to have abortions.

www.businessinsider.com

Herschel Walker's son says Trump called his father for months demanding that he run, while 'everyone with a brain' begged him not to​

• Herschel Walker, the GOP candidate, lost the Georgia Senate runoff to his Democratic rival on Tuesday.
• Walker's son said his father ran after Trump called for months, "demanding" that he do so.
• His son said "everyone with a brain" urged Walker not to run due to his "insane past."

Look at all the ugliness this brought out for Hershel, his past relationships and the family turning on him. Maybe TLC can pick them up for a reality show.

 

[Herdfan]

I will never understand how this election was as close as it was. How did almost half the state vote for Walker?

You live in the south and know just how big SEC football is. And how crazy UGA fans are and he was a star for them.

Think about how Nancy Pelosi described AOC's district in that a "glass of water with a "D" beside its name could win in that district". Similar concept.

 

[rdrr]

You live in the south and know just how big SEC football is. And how crazy UGA fans are and he was a star for them.

Think about how Nancy Pelosi described AOC's district in that a "glass of water with a "D" beside its name could win in that district". Similar concept.

Ok that puts some of the really extreme exceptions, but how do you justify voting for someone who beat his wife, threatened her with a gun to his head, and paid for abortions then claim to be pro-life? That would be a hard thing to overlook, even for a local sport hero.

Walker got over 1.7 million people to overlook that, which makes zero sense for 1,699,900 people who mostly claim to be god fearing Christians.

 

[fooferdoggie]

Ok that puts some of the really extreme exceptions, but how do you justify voting for someone who beat his wife, threatened her with a gun to his head, and paid for abortions then claim to be pro-life? That would be a hard thing to overlook, even for a local sport hero. He got over 1.7 million people to overlook that, which makes zero sense for 1,699,900 people who mostly claim to be god fearing christians.

trump did most of those and worse and he became president.

 

[rdrr]

trump did most of those and worse and he became president.

I am not minimizing what Trump did, but to put a gun to someone's head and threaten to shoot them... That is way beyond normal, even for a local sports hero. I haven't heard that claim about Trump.