(FreedomBeacon.com)- Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker is set for a runoff election next week against incumbent Democrat Raphael Warnock, but he won’t be able to count on the vote of one prominent GOPer in the state.
This week, Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan said he didn’t cast his vote for Walker in the race. Early voting began for the race earlier this week. Polls close for the runoff race on December 6.
On Wednesday, Duncan spoke to CNN and said that while he waited in line for more than an hour to cast his vote, he ended up not casting a ballot at all. Duncan said he went to the polls on Wednesday morning to vote, explaining:
“I was one of those folks who’s got in line and spent an hour waiting and, you know, it was the most disappointing ballot I’ve ever stared at in my entire life since I started voting.
“I had two candidates that I just couldn’t find anything that made sense for me to put my vote behind. And so, I walked out of the ballot box — showing up to vote, but not voting for either one of them.”
For the second election in a row, Warnock is facing a runoff election for the Senate seat. Last time, Democrats needed his win — and that of Jon Ossoff — to capture the majority of the upper chamber.
This time around, Democrats have claimed control of the Senate once again since they already have control of 50 seats. At the same time, this race is still important, as a 51-49 majority would be more powerful for liberals than the 50-50 split they have right now.
A win by Warnock would give Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer unfettered power to make all committee assignments, rather than having to negotiate with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
This race between Warnock and Walker headed to a runoff after neither candidate was able to get at least 50% of the overall vote during the midterm elections November 8. Georgia election law says that a candidate must have at least 50% of the vote to avoid a runoff, otherwise the top two vote-getters will face off head-to-head in a runoff about a month later.
As for Duncan, he publicly said he was skeptical about Walker’s campaign in the past. Two months ago, he told media outlets in Georgia that Walker hadn’t yet won his vote. In October, Duncan said:
“I’m not voting for Senator Warnock, and like a lot of other Georgians, Herschel Walker has not yet earned my vote. He’s got four weeks left to change our minds.”
Obviously, Walker didn’t do enough apparently to change Duncan’s mind. Whether other Republican voters will do the same thing Duncan did or show up and vote Walker into the Senate will be known by this time next week.
Walker was endorsed by Donald Trump, but the former president won’t stump for Walker in advance of the election next week.
