(WASHINGTON) — The House Jan. 6 committee’s chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, indicated on Tuesday that criminal referrals related to the Capitol attack were under discussion but that final decisions — including on specific crimes and specific suspects — had not been made pending a vote by committee members.
A spokesperson for the committee subsequently said in a statement that “the Committee has determined that referrals to outside entities should be considered as a final part of its work.”
“The committee will make decisions about specifics in the days ahead,” the spokesperson said.
Thompson, D-Miss., talked with reporters Tuesday on Capitol Hill as his committee pushes to finish its work before the next Congress begins in January and Republicans retake the House. The GOP majority is not expected to continue the Jan. 6 investigation in its current form.
Thompson gave sometimes contradictory answers to questions about whether his committee will make criminal referrals.
“We’ve made decisions that we will make referrals. As to how many, we’ve not decided,” Thompson said before later clarifying, after follow-up questions from ABC News, “What we’ve decided is that we will probably make referrals. … It’s under consideration, but we’ve not decided to do it.”
“We’ve not had a vote,” Thompson said, then added after more questions: “We have not made a decision as to who, but we have made decisions that criminal referrals will happen. … We have not voted on who.”
A criminal referral would be a notable but symbolic move as the Department of Justice can pursue investigations without them or ignore congressional referrals as it chooses. The DOJ has been separately conducting a parallel investigation into Jan. 6.
The committee is also finishing a report summarizing its 18-month investigation into the insurrection last year, when a mob stormed the Capitol, overrunning law enforcement, in an attempt to prevent the certification of President Joe Biden’s win over Donald Trump.
In a series of hearings that began this summer, the committee cited extensive testimony from Trump’s staff and allies, as well as other materials, to argue that Trump plotted to prevent losing power and urged supporters to march to the Capitol on Jan. 6 knowing some of them were armed.
Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has accused the committee of partisanship, given that it is dominated by Democrats with only two Republican members. Trump denies wrongdoing.
(ATLANTA) — Georgia’s Senate runoff between Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker comes to a close on Tuesday after more than a year of campaigning, several controversies and record-breaking turnout.
While the race won’t determine control of the Senate, it could increase Democrats’ power in the chamber — where Vice President Kamala Harris currently has to break ties — or 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.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Dec 06, 12:31 PM EST
Walker dodges Warnock’s attacks on his character
ABC News Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott asked Herschel Walker on Election Day about his rival questioning his character and competence — and if he was confident that he could flip Sen. Raphael Warnock’s seat.
“I’m not going to answer that,” Walker said, repeating a version anytime he was presented with his opponent’s name. “We’re going out to win this election. So this election, I’m telling people to get out to vote.”
“Hershel Walker is going to be your senator, and we’re going to get things changed,” Walker added.
When pressed further, Walker said, “The reason I’m not going to address that is because it doesn’t need to be addressed … Right now, I’ll put my character against Raphael Warnock any day. Right now, I’ve done a lot of things.”
Walker’s strategy in the final stretch has been to link Warnock to President Joe Biden, labeling him a “rubber stamp” for Biden’s agenda, a characterization Warnock has rejected.
“I am the 18th most bipartisan senator in the Senate. Period,” Warnock told Scott on Monday. “Now I know that’s an inconvenient fact for Mr. Walker. We also know that he’s allergic to facts, even the facts about his own life.”
-ABC News’ Libby Cathey
Dec 06, 12:17 PM EST
Who is Raphael Warnock?
Warnock is running in his fourth election in under two years as he fights for a full six-year term representing the battleground state.
Warnock is currently at the helm of as Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, which was famously led by Martin Luther King Jr. He has campaigned on a personal history steeped in religion and social justice.
He has also touted his current work during his short time in Congress, including some bipartisan priorities.
“I’m not a senator who used to be a pastor. You might as well know that you sent a pastor to the Senate,” Warnock told canvassers in October.
In 2020, Warnock was accused by then-wife Ouleye of running over her foot amid their divorce proceedings.
Neither police nor medical professionals were able to find evidence to show that she was injured, and Warnock was not charged with any crimes. He told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution of the claim: “It didn’t happen.”
Dec 06, 12:16 PM EST
Who is Herschel Walker?
Walker hopes to do what former Sen. Kelly Loeffler could not and defeat Warnock in a runoff election in Georgia.
Walker is a football legend in the state known for scoring touchdowns in the University of Georgia’s 1980 championship season.
Now a businessman, he entered the Senate primary in August 2021 at the urging of former President Donald Trump, a longtime friend, whose swift support largely cleared the field.
“I’m here to win the seat for the Georgia people because the Georgia people need a winner,” he said in October.
Both the November election and the runoff have seen Walker deny a series of allegations from women, including that he paid for their abortions, which he has said is not true. He is running as a staunchly anti-abortion candidate.
During the campaign, Walker’s past also received new scrutiny, such as resurfaced reports about violence in his first marriage — which he didn’t contest — amid what he said was a struggle with dissociative identity disorder.
Dec 06, 12:16 PM EST
Election Day is here for midterm’s final battle
In Georgia, the stage is set for the final Senate battle of the midterm election as voters head back to the polls on Tuesday for the runoff election between Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker.
In November’s general election, Warnock finished less than 1% ahead of Walker, falling just short of the 50% threshold required by state law, triggering a four-week runoff election that included at least five days of mandatory early voting last week.
Georgia is no stranger to runoff elections and this is the third time voters cast ballots in a Senate runoff election in less than two years. But the dynamics have shifted since the 2020 campaign that got Warnock elected. The state legislature passed a sweeping voting law last year that, among other changes, shortened the runoff period from nine weeks to four, causing an all-out sprint to the finish line for both candidates.
On Monday, Walker and Warnock made their closing pitches to voters in multiple campaign stops on the eve of Election Day.
(COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.) — The suspect accused of killing five people in a mass shooting at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado, is facing 305 charges, including first-degree murder, attempted murder and bias-motivated crimes.
Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, wore yellow prison attire for Tuesday’s court appearance, which was to hear the charges against them. Aldrich did not speak.
Public defenders assigned to Aldrich said in a court filing that the suspect identifies as nonbinary and uses the pronouns they/them.
Investigators and witnesses said the suspect allegedly opened fire as soon as they walked into Club Q at about midnight on Nov. 19. Patrons at the venue tackled Aldrich, subduing them until police arrived, according to witnesses.
“We are encouraged by this morning’s announcement of formal charges … as it cements what we already knew: this was a targeted hate crime,” one of the owners of Club Q, Matthew Haynes, said in a statement released by GLAAD on Tuesday. “The charges also affirm what we as a community demand: hate has no place here in Colorado Springs or anywhere.”
“We continue to call out those who spread disgusting rhetoric and encourage violence against the LGBTQ community, to end this behavior immediately before more people get hurt,” Haynes said. “And we urge everyone to do what they can to speak up for LGBTQ people and everyone’s right to be safe.”
Aldrich was arrested earlier for five counts of first-degree murder and five counts of ethnic intimidation causing bodily injury. The mass shooting was being investigated as a hate crime.
(KAY COUNTY, Okla.) — A former supervisory correctional officer in Oklahoma was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison for “abusing his position of power and authority to … facilitate an attack carried out by white supremacists on a Black inmate,” according to the Department of Justice.
Former officer Matthew Ware, 53, from the Kay County Detention Center, violated the civil rights of three pretrial detainees held at the facility, according to a federal jury.
Ware allegedly ordered lower-ranking correctional officers in May 2017 to move two Black pretrial detainees to a cell row housing white supremacist inmates whom Ware knew posed a danger to the detainees, according to court documents and the evidence presented in the trial.
Later that same day, Ware gave officers an order to unlock the jail cells of the two Black detainees and those of the white supremacist inmates at the same time the next day, the DOJ said.
Ware’s orders led to an attack on the two Black detainees by the white supremacist inmates, resulting in physical injury to both, including a facial laceration to one that required seven stitches to close, according to the DOJ statement.
Ware was the Lieutenant of the detention center at the time.
The DOJ said that as the acting captain of the facility in 2018, Ware ordered lower-ranking officers to restrain a pretrial detainee in a stretched-out position, with the detainee’s left wrist cuffed to the far-left side of the bench and his right wrist cuffed to the far-right side of the bench.
He was left restrained in this position for 90 minutes, which resulted in a physical injury, according to the U.S. attorney general’s office, which said this was done in retaliation for the detainee sending Ware a note that critiqued how Ware ran the detention center.
A federal jury found Ware guilty on Monday of “willfully depriving two pretrial detainees of their right to be free from a correctional officer’s deliberate indifference to a substantial risk of serious harm and of willfully depriving a third pretrial detainee of the right to be free from a correctional officer’s use of excessive force,” a statement from the Department of Justice said.
“This sentence handed down reflects the seriousness of the defendant’s actions and ensures accountability for his unlawful conduct,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement Monday.
Following his prison sentence, he will be under supervised release for three more years.
“Mr. Ware violated the laws he was sworn to uphold, betrayed the public trust and dishonored the many brave corrections officials who lawfully perform their important work each day,” U.S. Attorney Robert J. Troester for the Western District of Oklahoma said in a statement from the DOJ. “My office remains committed to protecting the civil rights of all Oklahomans, including those in custody.”
Ware’s legal representation did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
(MOORE COUNTY, N.C.) — More than 30,000 customers in a North Carolina county awoke for the third day Tuesday without electricity as a search for those responsible for sabotaging two key power substations continued and crews scrambled to repair what authorities described as “millions of dollars” in damages.
The crisis in Moore County has prompted local law enforcement to call in the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies to help in the probe of what has been deemed a criminal act. The White House is also closely monitoring the situation, officials said.
“This kind of attack raises a new level of threat,” North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said at a news conference Monday afternoon.
Asked whether the attacks are being investigated as a act of domestic terrorism, Cooper said, “I think investigators are leaving no stone unturned as to what this is as they are looking at every motivation that could possibly occur.”
Residents throughout Moore County remained under curfew Monday night and into Tuesday morning, as area schools were canceled for the second day.
Duke Energy, the local utility, said crews are working around the clock to restore energy, but conceded it will likely take until Thursday to repair the damage.
Freezing temperatures in the county about 60 miles southwest of Raleigh forced many resident to seek warmth and food at a shelter opened in Carthage.
“It’s better to have warmth and comfort than make sure your belongings are safe,” Gunner Scevertson, one of the resident who left his home to seek warmth at the shelter, told Charlotte ABC affiliate WSOC.
Carthage business owner Rachel Haviley used her portable generator to serve up coffee and food to neighbors in need.
“My kids are home, they’re not in school. My husband was supposed to go to DC, now he’s in daddy day care,” Haviley told WSOC. “I have a friend that was supposed to be at the hospital for class, now she’s not there. There are elderly people who rely on things that help keep them alive, so people’s lives and families have been impacted by this.”
Vandals wielding firearms are suspected of causing major damage to two electrical distribution substations, initially knocking out power to around 45,000 homes and businesses across the county, officials said. As of Tuesday morning, power had been restored to more than 7,000 customers, said Jeff Brooks, spokesman for Duke Energy.
As of Tuesday at noon, 35,304 customers in Moore County were still without electricity.
Brooks said while some of the damaged equipment could be repaired, other pieces had to be replaced.
The attacks occurred just after 7 p.m. Saturday, said Moore County Sheriff Ronnie Fields.
Fields said the perpetrator or perpetrators shot up two key substations in the area, adding, they “knew exactly what they were doing.”
Fields told ABC News that murder charges could be filed against those responsible if anyone dies as a result of the power outage.
“What was done was an intentional act. It was not a random act,” Fields said.
No arrests have been announced in the probe.
The attacks came amid protests over a Downtown Divas drag show in the Moore County city of Southern Pines. The drag show had been scheduled for Saturday night and was disrupted due to the blackout.
Fields said no evidence has yet been uncovered linking the power outage to the drag show.
(MOSCOW, Idaho) — Moscow, Idaho, police are looking for more information on the movements of University of Idaho students Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, who were at the Sigma Chi fraternity house in the hours before they were killed along with two other Idaho students last month.
Police said the couple, both 20 years old, was believed to be at Chapin’s frat house from 9 p.m. on Nov. 12 to 1:45 a.m. on Nov. 13.
Chapin and Kernodle’s timeline “seems to be one of the larger areas that we don’t have a lot of information in,” Idaho State Police spokesman Aaron Snell told ABC News. “So, being able to locate what they did that night, and maybe who they contacted, maybe any routes that they took home, that would be important for the investigation.”
Police are also looking for any details that could be relevant in the case overall, saying in a statement Monday: “We believe someone has information that will add context to the picture investigators are creating of what occurred. … Your information, whether you believe it is significant or not, might be one of the puzzle pieces that help solve these murders.”
Chapin, Kernodle and two of Kernodle’s roommates, 21-year-old Kaylee Goncalves and 21-year-old Madison Mogen, were all stabbed to death in the girls’ off-campus house on Nov. 13. Officials believe the attacks were between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m.
No suspects have been identified.
Two surviving roommates — who police said are not suspects — were home at the time and likely slept through the attacks, according to authorities. They were on the ground floor while the four students killed were on the second and third floors.
Police said Monday it’s not clear where Goncalves’ dog was during the killings, but when officers arrived there was no indication the animal had been in the rooms where the victims were attacked.
“We have not determined if the dog was inside the residence during the murders or not,” Snell said. “What we do know is that the dog was inside when officers arrived. The dog did not appear to have any evidence on it.”
“We don’t believe that there was any appearance of forced entering into the home,” Snell added.
Authorities also said Monday that they’re still “looking into information about Kaylee having a stalker.”
Police said they’ve spoken to two men who may have been the “stalker” Goncalves mentioned to friends and family. In October, the men were seen at a local business, and one of the men appeared to follow Goncalves into the store and then follow her as she headed to her car, according to police. The man never made contact with the college student, police said.
These men have since told police they were trying to meet women at the business, police said.
The authorities said there’s no evidence these men were involved in the murders.
Police said “information about a potential stalker or unusual occurrences should go through the Tip Line.”
Police urge anyone with information to upload digital media to fbi.gov/moscowidaho or contact the tip line at tipline@ci.moscow.id.us or 208-883-7180.
(COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.) — The suspect accused of killing five people after opening fire in an LGBTQ nightclub last month in Colorado Springs, Colorado, is expected to appear in court on Tuesday.
A hearing is scheduled for Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, at 8:30 a.m. local time at the El Paso County Judicial Building, according to the court.
Aldrich was arrested and held on charges that included five counts of first-degree murder, according to the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office booking report.
The charges against Aldrich may change. The suspect was also being held on five counts of ethnic intimidation causing bodily injury, as the mass shooting was being investigated as a hate crime.
A judge ordered Aldrich held without bond during a first court appearance on Nov. 23.
Public defenders assigned to Aldrich said in a court filing that the suspect identifies as nonbinary and uses the pronouns they/them.
Investigators and witnesses said the suspect allegedly opened fire as soon as they walked into Club Q in Colorado Springs at about midnight on Nov. 19. Patrons at the venue tackled Aldrich, subduing them until police arrived, according to witnesses.
Five people were killed in the mass shooting and 17 others were injured, police said.
(NEW YORK) — As the night before Christmas inches nearer, Santa Claus is being asked to make more and more appearances. But Santa Claus is getting harder to find.
Mitch Allen, the founder and “Head Elf” of event planning company Hire Santa, spoke with ABC News’ “Start Here” podcast about the difficulty his company is having at a crucial time of year: a nationwide Santa shortage.
“People are wanting Santa more than ever before,” he said.
But the demand is outpacing supply.
Hire Santa coordinates booking for Santa Claus impersonators across the country, as well as Mrs. Claus impersonators and Christmas elves. And Santa Claus doesn’t just show up in malls; he visits homes, company parties and parades.
Although COVID-19 and its subvariants are continuing to spread across the country, and predicted to rise in the winter months, “people are really back to the tradition of sitting on Santa’s knee,” Allen said.
Bookings are back to pre-pandemic levels, but there are not enough Santas in the workforce.
“There’s just absolutely huge demand coming out of COVID and there are just not enough Santa Claus entertainers,” said Allen.
“For every Santa that reaches out to us [for work],” he said, “there are 20 people reaching out to us for Santa events.”
Allen told ABC News that demand is up 30% from last year, and more than 120% from pre-pandemic levels. He added that there are more than 2,200 open positions across the industry, which includes Mrs. Clauses and elves.
One factor he noted in his interview with ABC News is that the industry, which already skews older, is aging-out. Over the past few years he estimates the company has lost 10% of its workforce, as Santas have decided to “hang up the red coat,” he said.
A major factor is the COVID-19 pandemic, which disproportionately affects elderly people.
During a normal holiday season, the hardest thing about being Santa, Allen said, is some of the questions that are asked.
“You have sick children or children that are going through family issues and even just financial issues,” he said. “The children really see those things and pour into Santa as somebody as a trusted figure.”
The best part, he said, is spreading the Christmas cheer.
“It’s this love that gets pushed back,” he said, “reflected back onto them from the children who have this joy and faith of Christmas.”
“And it’s really just an intoxicating experience to have a Santa as somebody sits on your knee and tells you their Christmas hopes and dreams,” Allen said.
(NEW YORK) — Dr. Edith Bracho-Sanchez says she knows firsthand the worry that comes with being a parent amid what some health experts are calling a “tripledemic,” with high rates of flu, respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, and COVID-19.
Bracho-Sanchez is a pediatrician at Columbia University in New York and the mother of a 14-month-old son who had to be taken to the hospital earlier this year to be treated for pneumonia after having a viral illness.
“It was really, really scary,” Bracho-Sanchez told ABC News’ Good Morning America of her son William’s illness, from which he eventually recovered. “So in addition to relating to my patients, of course, as their pediatrician, I am relating in this moment as a mom who has had her own child get sick and develop a complication from a viral illness this season.”
After a harsh fall season, flu and respiratory illnesses continue to show no signs of slowing down this winter.
Currently, 44 U.S. states as well as New York City, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico are reporting “very high” or “high” levels of influenza-like activity, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data released last week.
Pediatric bed occupancy has steadily remained the highest it has been in the last two years; last month, the CDC issued an official health advisory in response to the rise in respiratory infections in children.
The ongoing higher rates of flu, RSV and COVID-19 come at a time when children tend to be indoors more often due to colder weather, and when families tend to be busy with school activities and holiday gatherings.
Bracho-Sanchez said her son attends daycare and they hope to gather with their family for Christmas, so she is taking extra precautions now to help prevent illness.
“As a mom right now, so much feels out of my control,” said Bracho-Sanchez. “But I am trying to prevent the things that I can prevent.”
Here are six steps Bracho-Sanchez said she is taking to help protect her son’s health amid the “tripledemic.”
1. Keeping up-to-date on vaccinations: Bracho-Sanchez said her son has been vaccinated against COVID-19 and influenza, which she recommends for all kids ages 6 months and older.
“I have peace of mind knowing that even if he is exposed to either one of those illnesses, he is much less likely to develop severe complications because I have vaccinated him,” she said. “I trust the vaccines. They are safe.”
Children ages 6 months and older are eligible to get a flu vaccine as well as a COVID-19 vaccine, with “rare exceptions,” according to the CDC. Both vaccinations are free and are widely available to doctors’ offices and local pharmacies.
Bracho-Sanchez said it is safe for children to get both their flu and COVID-19 vaccine shots at the same time.
She also said it’s important for adult caregivers and loved ones of children to also get vaccinated against both the flu and COVID-19.
2. Watching for symptoms: Bracho-Sanchez said it’s a reality that most children will develop at least one cold this season, and that most will recover at home and have no lingering complications.
There are times, as Bracho-Sanchez said she experienced, that a child needs additional medical help, so she said she continues to watch for those symptoms in her own son.
Those symptoms include dehydration, a fever that lasts for three days or longer, and a child who is worsening or experiencing respiratory distress, according to Bracho-Sanchez.
“A child who’s breathing fast or who looks like they’re having trouble breathing, like they’re having to work so hard to breathe, that is the sign to go seek help,” she said. “And any child who had been getting better at home and all of a sudden seems to worsen, the fevers had gone away and now they come back, or they had been perking up a little bit, and all of a sudden, they really seem like they’re not acting like themselves, that is a child that needs to be seen as soon as possible.”
3. Limiting indoor gatherings: Bracho-Sanchez said she is limiting the parties and indoor gatherings that she and her husband and son attend to only those that are “really meaningful.”
“We want to see family this holiday season. Our family is getting vaccinated, and we’re not going to cancel those gatherings,” she said. “But perhaps things that are less meaningful to us, we’re going to skip this season.”
She continued, “We’re still going to playgrounds. We’re still doing outdoor play dates when we can, when the weather allows it, because he’s still a child and it’s important for us to live our lives as best we can and prioritize the things that are meaningful to us.”
4. Wearing face masks: Bracho-Sanchez said she and her husband continue to wear face masks when in crowded, indoor spaces, even if they are no longer mandatory.
“It does no harm and it can actually bring you some protection,” she said of mask wearing in crowded spaces. “Kids over [age] 2 do really, really well with masks if you teach them and if you normalize it for them.”
The American Academy of Pediatrics says face masks should not be worn by children under age 2. It recommends face masks be worn by several groups of people, including those over age 2 who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19 and by families with babies under 6 months of age who cannot be vaccinated.
5. Staying home when sick: Bracho-Sanchez said if her son is experiencing cold or flu-like symptoms like a fever or a runny nose or cough, she will keep him home from daycare to help prevent the spread of germs.
“I know so many of us have missed work, have had to cancel other activities when our kids get sick because so many colds are going around,” she said. “But as best we can, let’s keep them home if they are sick.”
6. Washing hands: Bracho-Sanchez said she encourages families, including her own, to continue the good hand-washing habits that so many people developed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Hand-washing can absolutely help us prevent COVID-19, influenza, RSV, and so many other things that are circulating right now,” she said. “So absolutely keep up the hand-washing, keep up the hand-sanitizing when you don’t have access to a sink and let’s keep teaching our children and getting them in that habit.”
(ATLANTA) — In Georgia, the stage is set for the final Senate battle of the midterm election as voters head back to the polls on Tuesday for the runoff election between Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker.
In November’s general election, Warnock finished less than 1% ahead of Walker, falling just short of the 50% threshold required by state law, triggering a four-week runoff election that included at least five days of mandatory early voting last week.
Georgia is no stranger to runoff elections and this is the third time voters cast ballots in a Senate runoff election in less than two years. But the dynamics have shifted since the 2020 campaign that got Warnock elected. The state legislature passed a sweeping voting law last year that, among other changes, shortened the runoff period from nine weeks to four, causing an all-out sprint to the finish line for both candidates.
On Monday, Walker and Warnock made their closing pitches to voters in multiple campaign stops on the eve of Election Day.
Walker, a local college football legend, spent most of the day in traditionally conservative north Georgia, holding a slew of meet-and-greets with supporters as he looks to make up ground with Republican voters after receiving roughly 200,000 fewer ballots than his GOP ticket-mate Gov. Brian Kemp in November’s election.
“I feel pretty good about tomorrow,” Walker told ABC News outside a campaign stop in Dawsonville.
“We’re working on turnout, turnout, turnout, so trying to get the people out to turnout the vote. You know, I think a vote for Warnock is a vote for these failed policies. A vote for me is a better coming,” Walker continued.
Warnock, a noted reverend, spent his last day on the campaign trail in Atlanta, including stops at Georgia Tech and at Killer Mike’s Atlanta barbershop, The Swag Shop. Warnock has largely campaigned in the runoff on “character” — in a swipe at Walker’s controversies on the trail — and has focused on appealing to moderates and independent voters like the small but potentially crucial number of split-ticket voters while simultaneously working to energize his base.
“We’ve been engaged in this work and in this movement together for a while now. I started on this journey to the Senate about three years ago and now there’s only one day left. But it all really comes down to this: We need you to show up,” Warnock told students at Tech.
While Georgia’s runoff won’t decide the balance of power in the Senate after a midterm victory in Nevada secured Democrats’ control in the upper chamber, both parties have cautioned voters not to tune out the implications of the race. A 50th Republican seat would create procedural obstacles for Democrats while a 51st seat for Democrats would give them more power on committees and a little more leeway in securing 50 votes when needed.
“There is still a path for Herschel Walker to win this race,” Warnock said Monday. “And so if there’s anything I’m worried about, it’s that people will think that we don’t need their voice. We do.”
While runoffs historically see lower turnout than general elections, voters seemingly remain engaged as Georgia saw record-breaking early numbers last week.
According to state election data, 352,953 people cast ballots on Friday, the final day of early voting for the runoff, bringing the total number of early votes, both in-person and absentee, to more than 1.8 million.
