Georgia Senate runoff live updates: Warnock celebrates win, Walker admits defeat
The election was the final battle of the 2022 midterms.
Georgia's Senate runoff between Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker came to a close on Tuesday, with Warnock projected by ABC News to defeat Walker, after more than a year of campaigning, multiple controversies and record-breaking turnout.
While the race didn't determine control of the Senate, it did increase Democrats' power in the chamber -- where Vice President Kamala Harris currently has to break ties -- rather than see the Republicans win a 50th seat and create procedural obstacles.
Walker, a businessman and local football legend, and Warnock, a noted reverend in Atlanta, first faced off in November's general election. But neither got 50% of the vote as required by state law, leading to Tuesday's runoff after about a week of early voting.
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Scenes from Election Day in Georgia
Georgia voters turned out to the polls in record numbers on Tuesday to cast their ballots in the Senate runoff election between Warnock and Walker.
ABC News has projected that Warnock will win the runoff, making him Georgia’s first Black full-term senator. He has served in the seat since 2021, when he won a runoff against GOP incumbent Kelly Loeffler.
Photos showed supporters of both campaigns gathering to watch results come in.
Filmmaker Spike Lee rallied the crowd at an election night watch party for Warnock in Atlanta on Tuesday.
Voters shattered turnout records this runoff election. Despite rainy weather in parts of the state, some 1.4 million people cast a ballot on Tuesday, according to state officials.
How Warnock will make history again
Warnock is projected to make history yet again as the senator of Georgia.
In 2021, he became the first Black senator from Georgia after winning a runoff for a partial term.
With ABC News projecting him to win the Tuesday runoff against Walker, Warnock will become the first Black senator elected to a full six-year term in the state.
Either winner of the close race would have achieved that barrier-breaking feat.
Warnock became only the second Black senator elected from the South since the Reconstruction era, when he won last year's runoff against incumbent Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler.
Warnock projected to defeat Walker, expanding Democrats' Senate majority
Warnock has defeated Walker in Tuesday's runoff election in Georgia, ABC News projects.
Warnock's victory means Democrats will expand their majority in the chamber to 51 seats, compared to Republicans' 49.
The Georgia runoff was the final election of the 2022 midterms.
Biden says: 'We're going to win Georgia'
As he stepped off Air Force Once on Tuesday night, President Joe Biden was asked by a reporter to comment on the election in Georgia.
"We're going to win," he replied on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, after returning from a trip to Arizona.
"We're going to win Georgia."
He then boarded his vehicle to drive back into Washington.
-ABC News' Ben Gittleson
Walker campaign decides to not address latest accusation of past domestic violence
In the final days of his Senate campaign, Walker declined to respond when asked on the trail about claims from an alleged former ex-girlfriend that he had a history of pathological lying, manipulation and violence.
On Thursday, during his first event following a report from The Daily Beast that included an interview with the woman, Cheryl Parsa, Walker delivered a standard stump speech without taking any questions from reporters.
After the rally, campaign staffers told ABC News they were not engaging with the Daily Beast story, contending that it was not gaining traction and that they were focused on winning the election.
On Sunday, NBC News aired an interview with Parsa, who has claimed Walker physically assaulted her during a five-year relationship. Parsa reiterated to NBC News an account she gave the Daily Beast about when Walker allegedly became violent, attacking her in 2005.
At a campaign event after the broadcast, the campaign again declined to comment.
Walker has previously denied accounts from other women that he paid for their abortions. He is running as a staunchly anti-abortion candidate.
"Democrats will say and do anything to hang on to power. Well, I'm Herschel Walker, and they picked the wrong Georgian to mess with. I'm not backing down the stakes are too high," Walker said in a statement in October.
Years before he ran for the Senate, while promoting a memoir about having dissociative identity disorder, he did not deny an account from ex-wife Cindy Grossman that he became violent during their marriage.