Politics

On Tuesday Nov. 8, the United States held its 2022 Midterm Election, deciding key House, Senate and gubernatorial seats. But after all the votes were counted, the state of Georgia had a problem. None of the candidates for the Senate had reached a majority.

The state’s incumbent senator, Raphael Warnock (D), received the most votes, with 49.4 percent of voters in Georgia giving him their support. His main opponent, Herschel Walker (R), received 48.5 percent of the votes. The remaining 2.1 percent went to Chase Oliver, a member of the Libertarian party. As no candidate received a majority (over 50 percent) of the vote, no winner could be determined. But Georgia still needed to elect a senator. The solution: a runoff election, to be held on Dec. 6, 2022. 

Runoff elections happen in situations like this, where no winner can be called. The two candidates who receive the most votes, in this case Warnock and Walker, move on to the runoff. With only two candidates, someone will win the majority and a winner will be determined.

With any election, knowing your candidates is vital. The rapidity of this election’s turnaround from midterm to runoff produced a massive advertising campaign in Georgia that attempted to garner the support of voters who did not have a background on both candidates. 

• Texas-size changes



 

Texas will consider adding a new election police force. Ohio has moved forward on photo ID requirements for voting. And Georgia could overhaul its controversial general-election runoff system.

Two years after the 2020 election and the pandemic put a spotlight on how elections are run, legislators around the country are signaling they aren’t finished yet with big changes to election administration and could implement new rules ahead of the 2024 presidential contest.

“Since the 2020 election, we’ve just seen this onslaught of new election laws coming through the states,” said Liz Avore, a senior policy adviser with the Voting Rights Lab, a group working to expand ballot access that is tracking the election bills. “It’s time to brace for another prolific year for election-related legislation.”

The renewed activity comes as the nation’s highest court weighs whether the US Constitution grants state legislators powers to set the ground rules for federal elections without oversight by state courts. An expansive ruling by the US Supreme Court would give state legislatures largely unchecked authority over election procedures, including the drawing of congressional maps.

Texas-size changes

Some of the efforts have already begun.

• The tale of two campaign strategies
• MORE: Georgia ends 2022 midterm cycle that challenged and confounded Washington: ANALYSIS
• Georgia as a permanent purple state?
• GOP rues Trump's influence, candidate quality
• MORE: 'Exuberant' Chuck Schumer on what a 51-seat majority means for Democrats
• Where does Warnock go from here?

Sen. Raphael Warnock's reelection in Georgia's runoff on Tuesday clinched a 51st seat for his party, cemented battleground status for his home state and kick-started discussion about how he succeeded this year unlike any other Georgia Democrats.

After Warnock defeated Republican rival Herschel Walker on Tuesday night, ABC News spoke with operatives and local experts about how Warnock's win changes his career and politics in Georgia, a historically red state that began lightening to blue with President Joe Biden's win in November 2020.

Warnock and fellow Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff followed Biden's victory by winning their seats in runoff races in January 2021. But the statewide ticket suffered near-total losses in November's midterms. In Stacey Abrams' rematch with Gov. Brian Kemp, whom she almost beat in 2018 — in what was then the best performance by a Democrat in Georgia in 20 years — she lost by more than 7 points.

Warnock was different, though.

Corrupt Georgia Republican Secretary of State is now proposing that the state go to ranked choice voting in the state indicating that he wants to ensure corrupt and bogus elections in the state for eternity.

We first learned of Raffensperger after the 2020 Election.  He certified the election for Joe Biden three days after Election Day.  This is after finding out that Raffensperger signed two agreements with Hillary attorney Marc Elias that changed the laws in the state related to absentee ballots.

Raffensperger oversaw the corrupt acts in the state reported to him the night of the election via Carter Jones.  This information was kept from President Trump and the rest of the country for half a year.

Raffensperger had three independent assessments of the election activities in the state presented to him after the election and he ignored all three.

The Carter Jones memos were ignored and the election certified despite rampant corruption and mis management.

Georgia State Senator and former Judge William Ligon and President Trump’s auditor in Georgia have never heard from Raffensperger despite rampant corruption and anomalies identified in the 2020 Election.

Special counsel Jack Smith has subpoenaed Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger as part of the Justice Department’s investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election and the US Capitol attack on January 6, 2021.

Mike Hassinger, public information officer with the Georgia secretary of state’s office, confirmed that Raffensperger’s office has received a subpoena from Smith.

“At the request of the Justice Department, we have no further comment,” Hassinger said in an email to CNN.

The grand jury activity expands on previous investigative steps the Justice Department has taken to understand efforts by former President Donald Trump and his allies in battleground states after the election.

After a week full of surprise twists (the #TwitterFiles exposing a lot more than anticipated), not-so-surprise twists (Leftists being wrong again about Twitter being dead), and some disappointing-but-not-surprising twists (Herschel Walker couldn’t cross the goal line to win the Georgia Senate runoff election against Raphael Warnock), we finally have a story worth discussing that doesn’t involve Elon Musk.

Brittney Griner is coming home!

Now, if you’re like me (and if you are I’m so very sorry), you have little or no idea who Brittney Griner is. I will admit I had to do a bit of digging to get the facts behind why her release is such a big deal, and I agree it is. Just not for the reason the Left wants us to believe it is.

Brittney Griner

What the Left thinks it means – a brave woman freed after being imprisoned in Russia for no reason

What it really means – a prisoner released solely due to the social justice hierarchy

When Joe Biden took over as President, I knew there would be some bad decisions coming down the pike. I mean, he picked Kamala Harris as Vice-President, a woman so unpopular with Democrats that I got the same number of delegates she did and I didn’t even run. Sure enough, there were no supply chain issues with Puddin’ Head Joe’s bad decisions, as they kept coming in like a LGBQT+ wrecking ball.

Even with incredibly low expectations, I knew somehow the Biden Administration would find a way to limbo under them with room to spare. And that’s exactly what we got with the Griner release.

• Her decision to leave the Democratic Party may help her win re-election in Arizona in 2024.

Her decision to leave the Democratic Party may help her win re-election in Arizona in 2024.

by The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board, December 9, 2022

Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s decision Friday to leave the Democratic Party and become an independent looks like a shrewd political move if she wants to run for re-election in 2024. What is less likely is that it will make much difference to Senate governance for the next two years.

Democrats cemented their Senate majority with their victory in Georgia’s runoff on Tuesday, and Ms. Sinema’s departure doesn’t jeopardize that. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Ms. Sinema will keep her committee assignments, and she’ll still vote for President Biden’s nominees. So what’s changed apart from the political label? Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Maine’s Angus King are also nominally independent, but the next time they defy Democrats on a crucial vote will be the first.

Ms. Sinema voted for President Biden’s priorities some 90% of the time this Congress. Where her independence has mattered in the last two years is preserving the Senate filibuster and opposing the worst elements of the Build Back Better plan, especially its tax-rate increases. That enraged the unforgiving left that now dominates the Democratic Party.

While the ex-president won the Peach State six years ago en route to the White House, it’s been a disastrous playing field for him ever since, rejecting his first re-election bid and rematch contenders at mid-term. His former aides and allies, meanwhile, are summoned before a special grand jury in the state investigating his efforts to overthrow of President Joe Biden win there in 2020.

On Tuesday, Trump’s Georgia futility could continue unless former Georgia running back Herschel Walker, a Heisman Trophy winner, can drag the MAGA banner over the line.

The Georgia Senate second round represents Trump’s latest opportunity to recast a painful midterm season in which his candidates who refuse the elections failed in swing states, casting a shadow over his fledgling 2024 presidential bid. A victory for Walker would be a rare victory for one of Trump’s recruits and potentially energize his lackluster campaign, while helping the Senate Minority Leader , Mitch McConnell, to limit Democratic power in Washington.

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One of the Republican Party’s most notable stooges, Marjorie Taylor Greene, got the embarrassment of a lifetime while also being the embarrassment of a lifetime after her very own constituents brutally slammed her with criticism during a live call-in TV show.

The Right-wing, nutcase House Rep. had joined in on North Georgia’s UCTV program, Night Talk, where she took phone calls from the very people she represents from her position in Congress. While it certainly went the way we pretty much expected it to, I don’t think it went the way Greene was hoping for.

During her appearance on the call-in show, Greene was absolutely hammered with brutal criticism from local Georgians who not only heaped their praises on President Joe Biden for Marjorie to hear but did not hold back their attacks against the congresswoman for her relentless efforts to repeatedly cast doubt on the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election.

One Georgian caller even went so far as to slam Greene as “an embarrassment to Georgia” — all on live TV.

“Yes, I just want to say, ‘Thank god for Joe Biden,'” one woman who called into the show stated. “She is an embarrassment to the state of Georgia.”

One of the hosts of the show stepped in and tried to do some quick damage control, telling the angry caller, “Well, we all have our opinions.”

But she wasn’t backing down.

“Amen to that,” the woman on the phone fired back at the host, “and I’ve got mine.”

• Warnock and Walker Go Head-to-Head
• Why Did the GOP Nominate Walker Anyway?
• The Problems Keep Adding Up
• Black Voters Overwhelmingly Choose Warnock

During a special election in January 2021, Raphael Warnock became the first black American senator from Georgia. Georgia is one of the first 13 states so this is a big win in breaking down racial barriers in the state.



Warnock and Walker Go Head-to-Head

On Tuesday, Warnock will go head-to-head with another black man, Republican Herschel Walker, in a race to secure a 6-year term.

Both men grew up in the deep south and have similar upbringings, however, they couldn’t be more different. Warnock and Walker have different views on racism and conflicting hopes and plans for the nation.

Based on what black voters have to say about the men, the choice is clear-cut. Warnock is a leader of a church, Martin Luther King’s Atlanta church, and places importance on the teachings of Martin Luther King and focuses on the black experience in America.