Obama Heads Back to Georgia to Help Warnock in Senate Runoff

Mario Parker and Billy House
·2 min read
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(Bloomberg) -- Former President Barack Obama plans to return to Georgia to campaign for Democratic US Senator Raphael Warnock in the closing days of the runoff election with Republican Herschel Walker, which will determine whether Democrats will gain a two-seat edge in the chamber.

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Obama is scheduled to hold a Dec. 1 rally for Warnock in Atlanta. He held a previous rally for the senator on Oct. 28, days before the general election.

Warnock led Walker by about 36,000 votes or 0.9 percent in the general election, but neither candidate broke the 50% threshold needed to avoid the Dec. 6 runoff. A libertarian candidate, Chase Oliver, who played spoiler by drawing 2.1 percent of ballots the regular election, won’t be on the ballot.

The announcement comes as the results of the Nov. 8 general election is to be certified Monday afternoon.

Democrats outperformed expectations in the midterm elections, surrendering fewer-than-expected losses in the House and holding control of the Senate, where they would increase their majority to 51 seats should Warnock prevail. A Walker victory would leave the chamber at 50-50 with Vice President Kamala Harris holding the tie-breaking vote.

In his Oct. 28 rally, Obama, the first Black US president, cast Walker, a former football star backed by ex-president Donald Trump, as unqualified to serve in office. Warnock is the first African-American to represent Georgia in the Senate. Walker would join South Carolina US Senator Tim Scott as the only other Black Republican currently serving in the chamber.

“Some of you may not remember, but Herschel Walker was a heck of a football player. But here’s the question: does that make him the best person to represent you in the US Senate,” Obama said. “Does that make him equipped to weigh in on the critical decisions about our economy and our foreign policy and our future?”

Walker responded with an Oct. 29 statement saying that Obama “told us to vote for Joe Biden, didn’t he? He got that one wrong, did he not?”

There was no immediate response from Walker’s campaign on Obama’s planned appearance.

News of the rally also comes as several out-of-state Republicans and others are scheduled to appear Monday with Walker at a campaign event in Milton. The list includes Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel, Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina, and ex-Representative Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, a one-time candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Georgia’s GOP Governor Brian Kemp and senators Jack Kennedy of Louisiana, Ted Cruz of Texas and Lindsey Graham are among others who have stumped with Walker in recent days.

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