Sanity strikes again.
Raphael Warnock’s victory over Herschel Walker in the Georgia Senate runoff caps an election season in which the normal, the sensible and the fans of fact regained their voice and gave hope that, after long years in which American democracy was feared to be at death’s door, the patient is rallying.
In simple mathematics, the win gives Democrats 51 seats to Republicans’ 49 in the Senate, speeding up confirmation of Joe Biden’s administrative and judicial nominees and starving the conservative West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin of some of the oxygen he enjoys as the swing vote.
But more philosophically, it serves as another corrective to the notion that all America suddenly went mad on 8 November 2016, the day Donald Trump was elected instead of Hillary Clinton. Looking back, it’s pertinent to recall that Trump lost the popular vote by nearly three million and benefited from a unique cocktail of circumstances that included entrenched misogyny and running against the ultimate establishment politician.
Herschel Walker spoke to supporters at his election night event at the College Football Hall of Fame, accepting defeat.
“I’m never going to stop fighting for Georgia,” he said, thanking his supporters, donors and team. “We put up one heck of a fight.”
After Walker endorsed Donald Trump’s conspiracy theories about the 2020 elections, it was unclear if he would accept the results. In his brief speech, Walker did not say whether he had called his opponent to concede.
“I don’t want any of you to stop believing in America. I want you to believe in America and continue to believe in the constitution and believe in our elected officials and most of all, continue to pray for them,” Walker said.
It is my honor to utter the four most powerful words spoken in a democracy: The people have spoken,” Warnock told his jubilant supporters.
The senator thanked supporters, and family.
“Voting is faith put into action,” he said. “And Georgia you have been praying with your lips and your legs.”