Republican candidate Herschel Walker on Tuesday explained why he believes the Senate runoff race is significant even though Democrats have already obtained a majority in the upper chamber.
Earlier this month, after contested races were called in Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Arizona, Democrats were able to secure 50 seats to maintain their majority in the Senate with Vice President Kamala Harris serving as the tie-breaker. But if Republicans win in Georgia, it means that the GOP and Democrats would have even numbers on Senate committees, making it more difficult for Democrats to push President Joe Biden’s agenda, Walker said.
However, “if the Republicans lose that Senate seat, then the Democrats got total control” of the Senate, he added. “Right now, we got a chance to make all the committees even—that we can still do some correction on it,” he said.
“That’s what I’m going to fight for. Right now, this election is more important than any election, I think, we’ve ever had in history,” Walker remarked.
The Dec. 6 runoff race was triggered after neither Walker nor Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), his opponent, received more than 50 percent of the vote. A third-party candidate got about 2.1 percent, or 80,000 votes, but will not be included in the runoff.
Following the initial midterm election, Warnock was ahead of Walker by about 1 percentage point.
More than 250,000 people have voted so far in the early voting phase, according to state election data. It came after the Georgia Supreme Court ruled that early voting can occur on Saturday, Nov. 26, after the secretary of state’s office had blocked it.
What It Means
Even with a Democrat victory, Republicans took a narrow majority in the House of Representatives, although a Walker win would give national Republicans a boost, having seen their standing in the state of Georgia erode toward Democrats over the last few years. A Warnock victory could indicate that Democrats are making inroads in places where they have had difficulties gaining traction in the past.Because of the 50–50 Senate divide, committee memberships are currently doled out evenly. These committees oversee a range of federal programs, from the military and agriculture to homeland security, transportation, healthcare, and foreign affairs.
Tied votes in committees on legislation or presidential nominations block, at least temporarily, such measures from advancing to the full Senate. It takes time-consuming procedural maneuvers to break the committee deadlock so that the full chamber can pass bottled-up bills and nominations.
A Warnock win would give Democrats at least one more member on each committee than Republicans, making it harder for Republicans to stand in the way of Biden’s agenda.
That could also provide Democrats with a stronger counter-balance to House Republicans, allowing Senate committees to advance more liberal legislation and nominees that could help energize their core voters in the 2024 elections.
Democrats will face a daunting task in holding onto their majority in the 2024 elections, when they will be defending 21 seats to the Republicans’ 10.
Two of those seats are in Republican-leaning states West Virginia and Montana. Another five are in the swing states of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Wisconsin, and Arizona, all of which will be in play during the presidential election.
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