Georgia Republican Senate candidate, Herschel Walker, believes his victory in Tuesday’s runoff election is crucial for Republicans because it will result in an evenly divided House.
Last week, Axios reported that Walker’s team is not allowing journalists “within 20 feet of him” in the final days leading up to the Dec. 6 runoff election. His interactions with the media are usually limited to interviews with friendly right-wing outlets like Fox News and even then, he is usually accompanied by surrogates such as Sens. Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz or both.
With control of the Senate already decided in the November election, Republicans are worried that voters will not be motivated to turn out for Walker. But, in a short conversation on his campaign bus with POLITICO on Saturday-without his handlers-Walker said voters are still motivated to show up for the runoff election because they understand that if he wins, the House will be evenly divided and Republicans can stall President Joe Biden’s agenda.
“They’re not less motivated because they know right now that the House will be even so they don’t want to understand what is happening right now,” Walker told POLITICO. “You get the House, you get the committees. You get all the committees even, they just stall things within there. So if we keep a check on Joe Biden, we just going to keep a check on him.”
Republicans have already won a narrow majority in the House after the midterm elections last month.
If Walker wins the runoff election, it is the Senate that will be evenly divided with Democrats having the majority since Vice-President Kamala Harris will have the tie-breaking vote.
If Sen. Raphael Warnock is re-elected, Democrats will have a 51 seat majority in the upper chamber. John Fetterman defeated Trump-backed candidate Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania in the midterms to fill the seat of retiring Republican senator Pat Toomey.
A Warnock victory would give Democrats full control of major committees in the Senate in the new Congress instead of having an even split. This could allow for quicker confirmation of judges. It also gives Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y) more flexibility in cases where he might lose the vote of either Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) or Sen. Joe Manchin (W. Va.)
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