In some states (and Georgia is one of them), if the "winner" has a plurality but not a majority of the votes, then there is a runoff election between the top two candidates. Several European countries have this for their national elections. I believe France is one such country. This happens when there are more than two candidates on the ballot, and no single candidate garners 50% or more of the votes cast.
In Georgia, there were three candidates on the ballot: Democrat Raphael Warnock, Republican Herschel Walker, and Libertarian Chase Oliver. Oliver pulled in about 2% of the vote, and Walker and Warnock essentially split the rest, scoring about 49% each. At this juncture, Warnock has a few more votes than Walker, but not enough to get to 50%. This means there will be a runoff election on December 6 for the seat.
In 2020, there were runoff elections for both the Senate seats in Georgia, and they were held on January 5, 2021. The polls suggested that at best, Democrats could win one of those seats, making the Republican majority 51-49. Incredibly, the Democrats (Warnock was one of those candidates) won BOTH of them, creating the 50-50 split in the Senate. Tie votes are decided by the Vice President, who is the "overseer" of the Senate votes, and votes only in case of a tie. Since the Vice President is Democratic, all ties will go to the Democrats, which is why they say that the Democrats control the Senate even though the seats are evenly divided at 50-50. This big news, however, was pretty much swallowed up by the OTHER events of the following day, January 6, 2021... you know that story. :-)
SO... yes, a runoff between Walker and Warnock is scheduled for December 6.
MY thinking is this: IF--and that's a big "if"--the Democrats already have 50 seats by December 6 (we'll have to wait and see: there are about four races yet to be decided), then it really won't matter who wins the runoff election in Georgia. The Democrats will control the Senate with either 50-50 or 51-49, so what's the difference, essentially. That makes me think that a lot of Georgia voters who held their noses and voted for Walker just to try to flip the Senate to the Republicans, well, they won't have the incentive to do that, so they will either stay home ("my vote doesn't count") or will switch their vote to Warnock ("since it won't matter, I'm voting for the better man and not the party line"). *I* think Warnock will win handily in that scenario.
However, if the runoff will decide control of the Senate (meaning Republicans have 50 seats sewed up and the Democrats have 49 seats in their corner), then all bets are off again, and it will be a madhouse.
The one wild card in the race will be what happens with Donald Trump. Should he declare for the Presidential race in 2024 in the next couple of weeks (he probably will), then it is likely he won't be able to keep his mouth shut about the Georgia runoff election. His words had a damping effect in 2021 when he said the election was fixed and fraudulent (despite the facts proving otherwise), his followers were resigned--why vote if the results are going to be fixed anyway? As a result, not as many Republican voters showed up for that runoff. So if Trump puts his foot in his mouth again, it could hurt Walker. Even Trump's public endorsement of Walker might bring a chilling effect on the Georgia voters. They may not want to vote for Walker because they their vote would be for Trump, etc.
But it sure will be a spectacle worth watching. Stay tuned!
