The 2022 Race for the US Senate: Georgia

Profile pictures of US Senate Georgia candidates Raphael Warnock and Herschel Junior Walker from BallotPedia

Welcome to the race for the US Senate seat for Georgia! This race pits the incumbent Raphael Warnock, a Democrat who has served in the US Senate since 2021, against the challenger Herschel Junior Walker, a Republican who is a businessman and a Hall of Fame former professional football player.

Georgia is, in general, a Republican state (it had not voted for a Democratic president since 1992, Bill Clinton), but the state is becoming more and more of a competitive battleground, with the state narrowly voting for Democrat Joe Biden for president in 2020. The 2018 Governor race between Brian Kemp (Republican) and Stacey Abrams (Democrat) was very close, and there were major concerns about voter suppression as Kemp squeaked by with the win. Stacey Abrams went on to advocate for voting rights for all with her organization Fair Fight, a ground game organization largely credited for the Democratic wins in the Georgia US Senate (Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock) as well as the US presidency in 2020. But even with Stacey Abrams running for a rematch of the governor’s race against Brian Kemp, the 2022 electoral landscape is a difficult one for Georgia Democrats. 

An important note for this election season: Traditionally, the “party in power,” defined as the party in charge of the US presidency (which this year is the Democratic Party), loses seats in the midterm elections. But the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade in June 2022 has shifted momentum toward the Democrats (see 538 and NYT analysis at these links). The race in Georgia is one of the top nine Senate races to watch in the 2022 election, and its outcome will help determine which party controls the US Senate in January 2023. 

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Relevant news stories:

  • Article: “Georgia 2022: Inside the U.S. Senate election,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, April 22, 2022
  • Article: “Black Church Leaders in Georgia Intensify Their Voting Rights Push,” New York Times, July 12, 2022
  • Article: “Amid Campaign Revamp, Herschel Walker Stumps Without a Stumble,” New York Times, July 19, 2022
  • Article: “Georgia’s Senate Race Is Much Closer Than The Governor Election. Will That Hold Until November?” FiveThirtyEight, September 7, 2022
  • Video: “Does Herschel Walker Have Enough Goodwill In Georgia To Win A Senate Seat?” FiveThirtyEight, September 7, 2022
  • Article: “Georgia has an increasingly diverse electorate,” Albany Herald, September 18, 2022
  • Article: “AJC poll gives Republicans the edge in most races,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, September 20, 2022
  • Podcast: “New poll gives GOP edge; Trump targets Fani Willis in new statement; Hyundai plant,” Georgia Public Broadcasting, September 20, 2022