The sun is setting on the 2022 midterm elections.
Voters in Georgia are heading to the polls Tuesday on the final day in the Senate runoff election between Sen. Raphael Warnock (D) and former football star Herschel Walker (R).
Warnock pulled ahead of Walker and a Libertarian candidate on Nov. 8, falling just short of the more-than-50-percent-majority needed to win. That forced the race into a Dec. 6 runoff, according to Georgia law.
While the country has waited with bated breath, Georgians have been smashing records at the ballot box. The Peach State has repeatedly topped its one-day record for early voting, tallying more than 350,000 voters just last Friday.
Dems feeling good: A surprising early-voter turnout is one of several reasons why Democrats are optimistic ahead of the runoff, as The Hill's Hanna Trudo and Al Weaver report.
The party sees a top candidate in Warnock, a reverend who won a runoff in 2021 and faces a candidate endorsed by former President Trump who has been battered by controversies.
The final count is expected to be close, with a survey by Emerson College and The Hill late last week finding Warnock with a 2-point lead. Among those surveyed who had already voted, Warnock had a 29-point advantage.
Walker's vulnerabilities, including previous reports that he paid for an abortion despite now being staunchly against the procedure, could be a mobilizing force for Warnock. And on the heels of a dispiriting midterm for Republicans, his links to Trump may be hurting him more than they are helping him in the contest.
The race will also give Democrats some much-needed breathing room, although they will control the majority in the upper chamber no matter who wins tonight. It will also be worthwhile to note, as The Hill's Niall Stanage writes in his five things to watch for, how both President Biden and former President Trump react to the outcome of the election – whoever wins.
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