Senate

He’s running: Herschel Walker makes bid for U.S. Senate

University of Georgia football icon Herschel Walker filed paperwork Tuesday to seek the Republican nomination for the Georgia U.S. Senate seat now held by Democrat Raphael Warnock. Walker’s long-anticipated entry into the race promises to touch off a long, divisive campaign pitting Georgia Republicans loyal to former President Donald Trump against those who would rather move on from the controversy stirred by Trump’s reelection loss to Democrat Joe Biden last fall and subsequent unsuccessful bid to overturn the election. Trump has been urging Walker, who has lived in Texas for decades, to jump into the contest. After publicly flirting with…

Republican candidate takes shot at Herschel Walker in campaign ad

Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black is telling University of Georgia football icon Herschel Walker to put up or shut up in next year’s Republican race for the U.S. Senate. Walker, former President Donald Trump’s pick to challenge incumbent Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, has been hinting he may run for the seat but hasn’t made a firm decision. Black, who is already in the race, has released a TV ad contrasting his Georgia background with the fact that Walker now lives in Texas. The ad starts with a video showing Walker in front of car with a Georgia license plate, saying…

Find out what former U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson is doing now

Former U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson launched a nonprofit organization Wednesday to raise awareness and funding for neurocognitive diseases including Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and related dementia. Isakson, R-Ga., announced his diagnosis with Parkinson’s in 2015 and retired from Congress at the end of 2019, midway through his third term in the Senate. “Upon my retirement, I have rededicated my life to serving the people of Georgia and the United States by doing everything within my power to help those who are working toward a cure for Parkinson’s and other related neurocognitive issues,” Isakson said in a prepared statement. “If our great nation…

Who is challenging Raphael Warnock in 2022?

Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock has drawn the first Republican challengers in his bid to hold the seat he won in historic fashion during the 2020 election cycle. Latham Saddler, an Atlanta banking executive and U.S. Navy SEAL veteran, opened his candidacy in an announcement highlighting his tours in Afghanistan and Iraq and tenure as a National Security Council official in former President Donald Trump’s administration. Saddler’s candidacy comes after Kelvin King, an Atlanta small-business owner in construction and U.S. Air Force veteran, jumpstarted his campaign earlier this week. A Black man, King aims to unseat Georgia’s first Black U.S.…

Blue State: Georgia senators Ossoff and Warnock officially sworn in

U.S. Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock of Georgia were sworn in Wednesday hours after President Joe Biden was inaugurated the nation’s 46th commander-in-chief. With Georgia’s two new senators now seated, Democrats have control of both chambers in Congress and the White House for at least the next two years until the 2022 midterm elections. Ossoff and Warnock, both Democrats, unseated Georgia’s incumbent Republican senators earlier this month, marking the first time since 2002 that Democrats will occupy the state’s two Senate seats. Ossoff and Warnock took the oath of office with newly inaugurated Vice President Kamala Harris, who became…

Warnock defeats Loeffler in Georgia Senate race

A steady trickle of Georgians mostly breezed in and out of polling places across the state for the final day of voting in the state’s high-stakes U.S. Senate runoffs, adding more than 1 million votes to the already 3 million cast before Tuesday. The nation watched as voters here narrowly elected Democrat Raphael Warnock, making him the first Black senator in Georgia history. Warnock declared victory shortly after midnight and The Associated Press called the race for him at 2 a.m. Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler has not conceded. As of Wednesday morning, Warnock held about a 53,000-vote lead over Loeffler. But the…

The Georgia Senate runoff is razor thin as counting continues

The runoff races for U.S. Senate in Georgia looked too close to call late on Election Day, though Democratic candidates Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock held favorable positions with thousands of votes left to be counted in suburban Atlanta counties and Savannah. With more than a dozen counties still outstanding by midnight, Warnock clung to a slim 35,000-vote lead over opponent Republican U.S. Kelly Loeffler. Ossoff was neck-and-neck with Republican U.S. Sen. David Perdue, with the senator leading by fewer than 2,000 votes. More than 4 million votes had been cast in both races, which racked up historically huge…

Republicans hold a slight lead in Georgia senate runoffs

Georgia’s two U.S. Senate races are too close to call heading into the final three weeks before the Jan. 5 runoffs, according to a new poll from Insider Advantage and Atlanta’s Fox 5. The poll of 500 likely Georgia voters, conducted Monday by telephone, found Republican U.S. Sen. David Perdue holding a slight lead over Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff, 49.0% to 47.8%. In the other contest, GOP Sen. Kelly Loeffler held a similarly narrow advantage over Democrat Raphael Warnock, 49.2% to 48.0%. In both cases, the difference between the two candidates was well within the poll’s 4.4% margin of error.…

Here’s what Kelly Loeffler and Raphael Warnock said during their debate

U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler and her Democratic challenger, Rev. Raphael Warnock, squared off on stock trades, police support and election integrity in a debate Sunday night ahead of the Jan. 5 runoff election. Hours earlier, Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff, who owns an investigative journalism company, debated by himself Sunday after incumbent U.S. Sen. David Perdue declined to participate, saying two debates with Ossoff before Nov. 3 election were enough. Victories for both Warnock and Ossoff would give Democrats control of Congress and the White House following President-elect Joe Biden’s win over President Donald Trump last month – though Trump has…

How to watch tonight’s Senate debate between Kelly Loeffler and Raphael Warnock

Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler and Democratic challenger Raphael Warnock will face each other again in a debate Sunday, and this time, they’ll have a national audience. Georgia’s two high-stakes U.S. Senate runoff races on Jan. 5 will decide which party controls the upper chamber. A pair of wins for Democrats would split control 50-50, giving Vice President-elect Kamala Harris a tie-breaking vote. Polls continue to show a competitive fight in both races, although a new 11 Alive/SurveyUSA poll shows Warnock with a slightly greater advantage at 52% to Loeffler’s 45%. Democrat Jon Ossoff is locked in a near tie with Sen. David…

The Georgia state senate will hold hearings on the 2020 election

Top Republican state lawmakers announced Tuesday they plan to hold hearings later this week on the integrity of Georgia’s election system and to take testimony on alleged “elections improprieties” stemming from the 2020 general election. Back-to-back hearings have been scheduled for Thursday by the Senate Government Oversight Committee to “evaluate the election process” and the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee to field election-impropriety claims. The two meetings come as officials in Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office continue to dismiss claims of widespread voter fraud by allies of President Donald Trump, who certified results show lost the Nov. 3 presidential election to…

Georgia officials to outsiders: Don’t move here to vote for Senate

Georgia officials are warning outsiders to butt out if they plan to move to the state just to vote in two U.S. Senate runoffs on the Jan. 5 ballot – something both political parties say they also oppose. National attention remains on Georgia as it starts the tense recount of the 5 million votes cast in Georgia’s presidential election and as campaigning ramps up for a runoff between Republican U.S. Senator Kelly Loeffler and Democrat Rev. Raphael Warnock and another runoff pitting GOP Sen. David Perdue against Democrat Jon Ossoff. Those two high-stakes Senate races could determine whether Republicans maintain control of…

Both of Georgia’s senate seats are headed for a runoff

A second U.S. Senate race in Georgia could go to a runoff and further ratchet up the focus on a state that could decide which party controls the chamber. Republican Sen. David Perdue’s lead over Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff has continued to dwindle as local election officials process ballots. But as of noon today, Perdue had fallen below the 50% plus one vote needed to win reelection outright. As of 12:30 p.m. Thursday, Perdue held about an 111,000-vote lead over Ossoff – or about the total vote haul for libertarian Shane Hazel. Perdue had 49.98% of the vote. “There is…

Loeffler and Warnock headed for January runoff

U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler and challenger Rev. Raphael Warnock appear headed for a runoff in one of two hotly contested Senate seats in Georgia. U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, the firebrand Republican challenging Loeffler for her seat in a free-for-all election, called Loeffler to concede and support her campaign around 10:30 p.m. on Election Day after results indicated she will advance to the runoff. His campaign confirmed the call. Warnock, who has mustered a staunch coalition of Democratic support in Georgia and nationwide, was likewise well on his way to gathering enough votes to face Loeffler in what will be a…

Loeffler, Collins and Warnock clash at Senate debate

Candidates vying for U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler’s seat from Georgia squared off for the first time in a debate Monday that touched on the coronavirus response, criminal justice reforms and concerns that not all challengers are getting a fair shake in the crowded free-for-all race. Sixteen candidates including Loeffler took the stage in two separate debates hosted back-to-back by the Atlanta Press Club, marking a split format that several candidates said did not give them a real shot at taking on the incumbent senator. Loeffler, an Atlanta businesswoman and Republican who was appointed to replace retired U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson…