GPB public policy reporter Riley Bunch discusses the Georgia senate runoff between Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker from the ground in Atlanta and how changes to early voting, former president Trump, and Georgia's emerging status as a purple swing state could all impact the results.

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What's at Stake in Today's Georgia Senate Runoffs

the George runoff election between Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel walker comes to an end today as voters head to the polls. So joining us now to discuss from Atlanta is public policy reporter Riley bunch. Thank you so much for joining us. So what message did each candidate leave voters with on the final day of the campaigning? Well, aside from the general get out to vote everyone to flood the polls message, we have two very different strategies. Herschel walker. The Republican has stuck really closely to his message, tying his democratic opponent to joe biden and touching on issues of the economy, inflation and concerns from his voters in deep red areas of the state. That's where he's looking for votes. On the other hand, the democrat senator Warnock, he really has kind of leaned into criticism of Herschel walker, which is something he didn't do in the beginning of the election. And his final messages quote character and competency that herschel walker is not fit to be in the Senate. Uh you know, it's interesting thinking about the turnout for something like this because usually in a midterm election, turnout is low and then in a runoff election, typically it's even lower than that. But that's not the case here. There was a record breaking early voting, including over 75,000 people who didn't even vote in the midterm elections. So what's bringing Georgians out for this special election because you would almost think they're probably exhausted by all the elections happening. Yes, we are definitely have election fatigue here in Georgia, but I think that voters on both sides of the aisle recognize the stakes of this election, right. This senator is gonna serve a full term in the Senate for Georgia. And that will have a lot of implications on both the national and state level moving forward. And I think also for democrats as well, there was a lot of fresh after big statewide losses here, Stacey Abrams lost in the governor's race. And I think that's motivating factor for them. Well, another thing was a new law short in the runoff period from nine weeks to four weeks and it really limited the number of early voting days that people could get their votes in. So how did all of that impact the election? Because it still seems like people were voting? Yes, it's good for us. Right. We don't have an election go deeper into the holiday season, but it really did change how elections work in Georgia. This new law. So it's shortened the time, which means there's more people that have to vote in a very short early voting period. That's why we've seen some long lines during this period. It also made it more difficult to vote absentee or vote by mail. There's a lot of restrictions around that now. So that's why we see people having to vote at the polls in person. And these extreme my number's in person early voting. Given the fact Reilly that democrats sort of were able to win the majority in the Senate, based on wins in Nevada and Arizona, that sort of defend republican messaging of saying, look, you need to elect Herschel walker to be that critical vote to sort of, you know, to keep republicans at a 50 50 majority. So now if Raphael Warnock is elected, how much of a difference now with that 51st not 1/50 51st senator make for democrats legislative agenda here? Well, it can definitely make the rest of Joe Biden's term a little bit easier. Right? Former President Obama was here last week campaigning for Warnock and that was one of his big messages is that it's a lot easier to get things done with 51/50. And he pointed out that it's easier to circumvent even members of your own party that don't agree with legislation. You know, we've seen democrats be held up by one person in the Senate with that super split. So it'll definitely make things easier for democrats and on the other side of the aisle, if walker wins, vice president, Kamala Harris will be the Senate tiebreaker. Republicans won't be able to win the majority. So what's at stake for their party here, They still need that vote, right? It still makes it easier for them to push their agenda in the in the Senate. And also I think that this is a reason why a lot of the allegations against herschel walker and controversies that are linked to his campaign have been overlooked at the national level. Right? Because it's no longer about the quality of the candidate and it's more about which way they're going to vote in the Senate if walker loses. Do you think that's sort of the end for these celebrity trump endorsed candidates? Because it's interesting brian kemp who is not a trump backed candidate had a completely different outcome here than what it looks like potentially herschel walker will have. It's definitely kind of the Litmus test for the Trump candidate, right? I don't think these celebrity Trump endorsed candidates are going to go away, but it's really making the Republican Party rethink how effective they are in a state level. You mentioned Brian Kemp who um you know kind of stood up to Trump in the 2020 election and lost favor with Trump. He did extremely well in Georgia and one of second term. So it's really making republicans rethink and I mean there's a reason why donald trump hasn't come to Georgia to campaign for herschel walker even though there are long time friends, he's held a tele rally last night and that was about it. Republicans didn't want him here mm that says a lot and what we can look forward to for 2024. All right, thank you so much. Reporter Riley bunch for joining us for that insight