December 2022 — MHCE Newsletter

WWW.MHCE.US Monthly Newsletter | 23
have to negotiate a power-sharing deal
with Republicans and won't have to
rely on Vice President Kamala Harris
to break as many tie votes.
About 1.9 million runoff votes were
cast by mail and during early voting,
while the state was on track for a
robust Election Day, with state officials
estimating an additional 1.4 million
votes cast — slightly more than in
the November midterm and the 2020
election.
Early and mail voting did not reach
the same levels as years past, and it
was likely the total number of votes
cast would be less than the 2021
Senate runoff election. Voting rights
groups point to changes made by state
lawmakers after the 2020 election that
shortened the period for runoffs, from
nine weeks to four, as a major reason
for the decline in early and mail voting.
Elections officials reported few
problems processing early votes and
tabulating ballots cast Tuesday, but
there were some delays. In south
Georgia's Lowndes County, two poll
workers were in a car accident on the
way to the county elections office with
the memory cards from one precinct's
polling machines. A Lowndes
official said a member of the local
elections board went to the accident
site to retrieve the memory cards so
tabulations could continue.
Walker benefited during the campaign
from nearly unmatched name
recognition from his football career,
yet was dogged by questions about
his fitness for office and allegations of
hypocrisy.
A multimillionaire businessman,
Walker inflated his philanthropic
activities and business achievements,
including claiming that his company
employed hundreds of people and
grossed tens of millions of dollars in
sales annually, even though records
indicate he had eight employees and
averaged about $1.5 million a year.
He has suggested that he's worked as a
law enforcement officer and graduated
college, though he has done neither.
He was accused by two former
girlfriends of encouraging and paying
for their abortions, despite supporting
an outright national ban on the
procedure during the campaign. He
denied both women's claims.
He was also forced to acknowledge
during the campaign that he had
fathered three children out of wedlock
whom he had never before spoken
about publicly. The mother of one of
those children told The Daily Beast
that Walker had not seen his young son
since January 2016 and had to be taken
to court for child support — in direct
conflict with Walker's years spent
criticizing absentee fathers and his
calls for Black men, in particular, to
play an active role in their kids' lives.
His ex-wife said Walker once held a
gun to her head and threatened to kill
her. He has never denied those specifics
and wrote of his violent tendencies
in a 2008 memoir that attributed the
behavior to mental illness.
As a candidate, he sometimes mangled
policy discussions, attributing the
climate crisis to China's "bad air"
overtaking "good air" from the United
States and arguing that diabetics could
manage their health by "eating right,"
a practice that isn't enough for insulindependent
diabetic patients.
On Tuesday, Atlanta voter Tom
Callaway praised the Republican
Party's strength in Georgia and said
he'd supported Kemp in the opening
round of voting. But he said he cast
his ballot for Warnock because he
didn't think "Herschel Walker has the
credentials to be a senator."
"I didn't believe he had a statement
of what he really believed in or had a
campaign that made sense," Callaway
said.
Walker, meanwhile, sought to portray
Warnock as a yes-man for Biden. He
sometimes made the attack in especially
personal terms, accusing Warnock of
"being on his knees, begging" at the
White House — a searing charge for
a Black challenger to level against a
Black senator about his relationship
with a white president.
"My opponent is not a serious person,"
Warnock said during the runoff
campaign. "But the election is very
serious. Don't get those two things
confused."
Warnock promoted his Senate
accomplishments, touting a provision
he sponsored to cap insulin costs for
Medicare patients. He hailed deals
on infrastructure and maternal health
care forged with Republican senators,
mentioning those GOP colleagues
more than he did Biden or other
Washington Democrats.
Warnock distanced himself from
Biden, whose approval ratings have
lagged as inflation remains high. After
the general election, Biden promised
to help Warnock in any way he could,
even if it meant staying away from
Georgia. Bypassing the president,
Warnock decided instead to campaign
with former President Barack Obama
in the days before the runoff election.
Walker, meanwhile, avoided
campaigning with Trump until the
campaign's final day, when the pair
conducted a conference call Monday
with supporters.
Walker joins failed Senate nominees
Dr. Mehmet Oz of Pennsylvania, Blake
Masters of Arizona, Adam Laxalt
of Nevada and Don Bolduc of New
Hampshire as Trump loyalists who
ultimately lost races that Republicans
once thought they would — or at least
could — win.