Senate race likely going to a runoff

Walker, Warnock too close to call; Kemp defeats Abrams

  • Lanier Rhodes, who is state Rep. Trey Rhodes’ dad, campaigns outside Lexington Baptist Church on Tuesday. Rhodes defeated Democratic challenger Kat Howkins, of Winterville, in the Georgia House District 124 race.
    Lanier Rhodes, who is state Rep. Trey Rhodes’ dad, campaigns outside Lexington Baptist Church on Tuesday. Rhodes defeated Democratic challenger Kat Howkins, of Winterville, in the Georgia House District 124 race.

    With all eyes on Georgia during Tuesday’s midterm election, one race in particular likely will have to wait until December for a decision. 

    Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker likely will head to a runoff after neither gained the 50% of the vote required to win an election in Georgia. 

    Warnock had 49.3% of the vote and Walker was at 48.6% with 96.86% of precincts reporting Wednesday morning. 

    The runoff, if needed, is scheduled for Dec. 6.

    "We always knew this race would be close," Warnock told supporters gathered at a downtown Atlanta hotel late Tuesday night. "Y'all just hang in there." 

    "I don't come to lose," Walker told his supporters, who had gathered near Truist Park in Cobb County. "He's going to be tough to beat ... just hang in there a little bit longer." 

    In Oglethorpe County, Walker won with 68.35% of the vote with 100% precincts reporting. 

    Here’s a look at other results affecting Oglethorpe County:

     

    T-SPLOST

    With 56.62% of voters in favor, the T-SPLOST passed in Oglethorpe County and will go into effect with the goal to raise an estimated net amount of $5 million for transportation purposes through a 1% sales tax for the next five years.  

     

    County contests

    All county candidates ran unopposed and were elected. 

    • County Commission (District 1): Howard Sanders (R)
    • County Commission (District 3): David Clark (I) (R) 
    • County Commission (District 5): Tracy Norman (I) (R) 
    • County BOE (District 3): Susan H. Robinson (R)
    • County BOE (District 5): Rebecca “Becky” Soto (I) (R) 
    • Soil and Water Conservation District supervisor (Broad River): Ted Hughes (I) (R)

     

    Georgia State House (District 124)

    Republican incumbent Trey Rhodes kept his seat with 65.8% of votes in the race against Democrat candidate Kat Howkins.

    Rhodes was first elected in 2014 and ran unopposed in 2016 and 2020.

    Campaigning for this race continued in Oglethorpe County all the way to election day with Rhodes’ father, Lanier Rhodes, spending most of the day across the street from the Lexington Baptist Church polling location waving at people and holding signs in support of his son. 

    “I woke up this morning and knew I couldn’t just sit at home,” Lanier Rhodes said. “Family is important, and that’s what Trey is all about. People need to see that in this election.”

     

    Georgia State Senate (District 24)

    Republican incumbent Lee Anderson ran unopposed and maintained his seat. Anderson was voted in during the 2016 election and has been running unopposed since. 

     

    Amendments and referendums

    Both amendments passed. Certain state officials can be suspended without pay if they’re indicted for a felony and local governments can grant temporary property tax changes for properties within disaster areas and damaged by disaster events.

    Both statewide referendums also passed, exempting timber equipment owned by a timber producer from ad valorem property taxes and expanding property tax exemption to include dairy products, eggs and merged family farms. 

     

    U.S. House of Representatives (District 10)

    The U.S. House seat for District 10 was also up for election this cycle with Republican candidate Mike Collins taking 72.8% of votes to win against Democrat Tabitha Johnson-Green. 

    As it stands nationally, Democrats hold 190 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, and Republicans have 203, with 218 of the 435 up for election needed for a majority.

     

    State offices

    At the state level, Republican Gov. Brian Kemp won with 53.5% of votes against Democrat candidate Stacey Abrams. Abrams ran against Kemp in 2018 when he was first elected with only 50.2% of votes in comparison. 

    “I appreciate the strong grassroots supporters we have had, literally from Claxton to Calhoun,” Kemp told a crowd at the Coca-Cola Roxy near Truist Park in Cobb County. “We would not be here without you. Thank you so much.”

    Georgia leaned heavily red in this election with Republican candidates either maintaining or winning state seats. While the races were tighter statewide, these results mirror Oglethorpe County, where the Republican party also swept the board. 

    Those include incumbent Brad Raffensperger, who remained Secretary of State with 53.3% of votes against Democrat candidate Bee Nguyen, and incumbent Chris Carr who will continue as Georgia’s Attorney General with 51.9% of votes against Democratic candidate Jen Jordan. 

    Republican candidate Tyler Harper also took the race for Commissioner of Agriculture with 53% of votes against Democrat candidate Nakita Hemingway.

     

    Capital Beat News Service contributed to this article.