Subterms
The Georgia voters who delivered Mr. Kemp a comfortable victory over his Democratic challenger, Stacey Abrams, in November did not show the same enthusiasm for Mr. Walker. Neither Mr. Walker nor Mr. Warnock cleared the 50 percent threshold needed to win outright, sending voters to the polls again for a runoff on Tuesday. Mr. Walker […] More
The police in Savannah, Ga., said there was no indication that the shooting was politically motivated.A 15-year-old boy who was campaigning for Senator Raphael Warnock was shot in the leg through the door of a home in Savannah, Ga., on Thursday afternoon, the authorities said.It was unclear why the man shot the boy. The police said in a statement on Friday that the shooting was under investigation, adding, “At this point, there is no indication the shooting was politically motivated.”The boy, whose name was not released, was shot when the man fired a shot through the closed door of the home as the boy stood outside the door, the police said. The boy was taken to a hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening, the police said.The man, Jimmy Paiz, 43, was charged with aggravated assault and aggravated battery and taken to the Chatham County Jail. Bond was set at $5,700. It was unclear on Friday whether Mr. Paiz had a lawyer.Images of the home show that the front door has several windows. It was unclear whether Mr. Paiz could see the boy through the door, or whether the boy had identified himself as a canvasser with the Warnock campaign before the shot was fired.The shooting came as Mr. Warnock, a Democrat, faces Herschel Walker, a Republican and former football star, in a runoff election on Tuesday. Mr. Warnock beat Mr. Walker by about 37,000 votes in the November general election, but he fell shy of the 50 percent threshold needed to win the Georgia Senate seat.“I am saddened to learn about this incident,” Mr. Warnock said in a statement on Friday. “I am praying for the victim and their family and wish them a full recovery.”Public records indicated that Mr. Paiz has lived at the residence for several years, is an actively registered voter and did not have a criminal history. More
Hyundai’s huge new plant outside Savannah could be a model for bipartisanship and a central achievement for Raphael Warnock, whose biggest efforts otherwise fell short. But Republicans aren’t giving him credit.The groundbreaking ceremony in October for the Hyundai electric vehicle plant under construction outside Savannah should have been a moment for bipartisan bonhomie, with the Republican governor of Georgia, Brian Kemp, and a Democratic senator, Raphael Warnock, both shoveling dirt to begin the largest economic development project in the state’s history.Instead, in this hyperpartisan moment in a bright-purple state, that triumph has been tarnished by a multipronged and acrimonious debate. Should state economic incentives or federal climate legislation get the credit? Did federal electric-vehicle tax breaks help or hurt the project? Above all, how should the brief Senate record of Mr. Warnock play in voters’ calculations ahead of his runoff election on Tuesday against Herschel Walker, the Republican nominee?Mr. Warnock, the senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, has only two short years of experience in elective office. Democrats say he has much to show for it: not a lot of flash, they concede, but the hard work and demonstrated skill of a legislative professional.His accomplishments are mainly modest but meaningful: science funding for historically Black colleges and universities, new access to grants for Georgia transit authorities, funding to replace aging highway-rail intersections, and new programs to improve maternal health care.His biggest achievement may have been his relentless push for a $35-a-month out-of-pocket cap on insulin costs, which survived for Medicare recipients in the Inflation Reduction Act, signed by President Biden in August, but was blocked by Republicans for those with private health insurance.There is no doubt that where Mr. Warnock swung hardest, he missed: He dearly wanted to expand health insurance access for the working poor in Georgia and other Republican-led states that have refused to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Tax credits for low-income workers to buy private policies made it through the House under Mr. Biden’s Build Back Better bill but died in the Senate.Senator Chuck Schumer, the majority leader, with Mr. Warnock and Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia last year. Senate Democrats say Mr. Warnock is needed as a key 51st vote for the party in the chamber.Anna Moneymaker for The New York TimesMr. Warnock was also the torch bearer for voting rights legislation that fell to a filibuster in the Senate. Promoted by Democratic leaders as the passionate heir to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who once preached from the same Ebenezer pulpit, Mr. Warnock was given ample floor time to make his case in the loftiest of terms, and his vulnerable position in the 2022 election was supposed to add urgency to his appeals.But he could not persuade two Democratic colleagues, Senators Joe Manchin III of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, to reshape filibuster rules to let expanded access to the polls pass with a simple majority.One of Mr. Warnock’s earliest campaign ads this year featured him allowing: “A magician? I’m not. So in just a year in the Senate, did I think I could fix Washington? Of course not.”What to Know About Georgia’s Senate RunoffCard 1 of 6Another runoff in Georgia. More
Before the November election, Mr. Walker had help from Republicans far and wide. Now, he’s relying heavily on Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia to pull him ahead of Senator Raphael Warnock, the Democratic incumbent.For weeks during the general election, Herschel Walker was joined on the campaign trail by top Republican senators, party leaders and conservative activists eager to help the former football star’s Senate bid in Georgia. Now, with certain exceptions, he’s often been the only draw at his events.The shift reflects fresh doubts at the top of the Republican Party, where disappointing midterm election results last month have triggered an identity crisis among conservatives reeling from losses in a third consecutive campaign cycle.The uncertainty has affected Mr. Walker’s campaign, where his team has avoided appearances with former President Donald J. Trump, who had endorsed him and whose divisiveness has been particularly acute among Georgia voters.According to a recent private poll of likely runoff voters in Georgia, conducted for a pro-Walker super PAC, just 36 percent of respondents said they had a favorable view of Mr. Trump, compared to 59 percent who said they had an unfavorable view of him. The same survey showed that Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia, a Republican re-elected to a second term last month despite Mr. Trump’s attempts to unseat him, was viewed favorably by 60 percent of voters and unfavorably by 33 percent.But containing Mr. Trump has become something of a chess match for Mr. Walker’s team.Senator Lindsey Graham joined Mr. Walker at his campaign event on Thursday.Dustin Chambers for The New York TimesMeanwhile, few other Republicans have appeared with Mr. Walker during the runoff.Dustin Chambers for The New York TimesFears about the former president’s penchant for prioritizing his own grievances — as he did during a disastrous runoff for Republicans in the state just two years ago — convinced some Walker advisers not to seek help from some of Mr. Trump’s potential White House rivals in 2024. The benefit of campaigning with rising stars in the party, like Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida or Gov. Glenn Youngkin of Virginia, wasn’t worth the risk of provoking the former president, these advisers said.It’s unclear whether Mr. DeSantis or Mr. Youngkin was particularly interested in helping Mr. Walker, who was slightly behind incumbent Senator Raphael Warnock in a CNN/SSRS poll released Thursday. While Mr. DeSantis recently signed an online fund-raising plea for the Walker campaign, both men campaigned almost exclusively this year with candidates for governor.What to Know About Georgia’s Senate RunoffCard 1 of 6Another runoff in Georgia. More
To be a victim of injustice hurts hard. To be a victim of indifference hurts deeper and longer. And that is what is most gutting about the U.S. Senate runoff in Georgia between Herschel Walker and Senator Raphael Warnock.How the hell did we get here? I grieve the fact that someone like Mr. Walker actually has a chance at a runoff against the incumbent Senator Warnock. What does it cost us as Black people to see this play out publicly? What does it cost this country?I mourn what has happened to us as Black people since 2020. With each passing year — whether it was how by 2021 America quickly reneged on its promises of racial progress after the murder of George Floyd or how white people remain protected after an insurrection — we have been reminded that to be Black in America is to live on fragile soil. What keeps and sustains us is never permanent, is often compromised, and besides, is never given freely.When Mr. Walker announced his campaign in August of last year, I knew that he represented himself less as Black people’s potential representative than white America’s tool. Disgraced former President Donald Trump endorsed Mr. Walker: “Herschel Walker will never let you down.” As the months rolled on, the scandals piled up: the allegation that Mr. Walker, who strongly opposes abortion rights, allegedly paid for his former girlfriend to abort their baby; his son’s rants against his father, and even recent questions about his Georgia residency. Throughout it all, Mr. Walker’s campaign draws from white supremacy’s greatest fantasy and stereotype: using a Black man for white people’s entertainment and consumption.Mr. Walker is part of a long tradition of Black people willing to distance themselves from the humanity and dreams of their community in exchange for white praise and white power. Black people betraying Black people has a legacy stretching from the plantation to today. Mr. Walker has willingly, as he did in the N.F.L., taken the handoff from the likes of Mr. Trump, Ron DeSantis and Lindsey Graham, shucked and juked and jived over Black people’s real needs, just to hit the end zone and win at the white man’s game.Despite the ways Senator Warnock in so many ways represents the pinnacle of what white society demands that Black people be in order to be successful — educated and exceptional — 70 percent of white Georgians voted for Mr. Walker, according to exit polls. There is a long history of white Americans trying to pull from the worst of us to destroy the best of what we can become. Senator Warnock, meanwhile, has had to prove his humanity, his leadership and his faith — I’m actually quite tired of seeing ads asking Georgians to declare their trust in Senator Warnock.No matter how perfect or upstanding we are or how well Black people lead our state, white people seem to always become indifferent when we shout: This is not good for us! Once again Black people have to prove that we are trustworthy and that Senator Warnock is the best choice not just for us, but for America.Politics aside, positions aside, I have to wonder: what is it that so many white people see as desirable in Herschel? A recent letter to the editor in the Los Angeles Times suggested that it was the power of “celebrity” — that there was something alluring about Mr. Walker dancing his way to the end zone before winning a Heisman Trophy. For others, Mr. Walker is someone who represents Republican exhaustion with what Democrats have to offer. But it is not just celebrity or exhaustion. The race and runoff is a reflection of who white people believe is best for Black people and the nation. Herschel Walker is a very visible and violent symbol of just how far many white people in America will go to preserve a dying world of whiteness they refuse to let go of.What a sad thing it is to watch a man’s and a people’s desire to destroy even themselves in an attempt to control what America is, means and can become. It is not just white supremacy. It is not just white hatred. It is white ingratitude.White ingratitude is bent on breaking people’s hearts. It is white ingratitude that refuses to appreciate what Senator Warnock means to Georgia and this country and forces him to prove himself once again. It is white ingratitude that desires the stereotype of the ignorant charismatic Black athlete. It is white ingratitude that disrespects and disregards the Black tradition of faith that wants to both heal the soul and save society. It is white ingratitude that refuses to acknowledge just how deeply racist a vote for Mr. Walker actually is. White ingratitude is not just about open hatred and violence, it is also the everyday ways many white people make life so much harder for those who don’t look like them.White ingratitude is very real and it is the heart of white power and white supremacy. If you are ungrateful for another person’s humanity and freedom, then you will do all types of things to devalue and disrupt it. Many white people are ungrateful for what Black people mean to America, what we have been, what we have done, what we have given them and what we have endured.It seems that Reinhold Niebuhr’s words from “Moral Man and Immoral Society,” published in 1932, still ring true: “However large the number of individual white men who do and who will identify themselves completely with the Negro cause, the white race in America will not admit the Negro to equal rights if it is not forced to do so.”We have done the forcing, again and again. And now what we are left with is not just rage, but the sadness associated with exhaustion. An exhaustion that none of us deserves.Senator Warnock just might win. The celebration will ensue. A sigh of relief will be had. People will dance and declare how this country “works.” And yet, he just might lose. That is life, American life, American fragility.No matter what happens the ingratitude and grief will still remain.And I want America free of both.Danté Stewart is a writer and speaker on race, religion and politics. He is the author of “Shoutin’ in the Fire: An American Epistle.”The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And here’s our email: letters@nytimes.com.Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram. More
As the former president rallied with Senator Raphael Warnock on Thursday, Mr. Warnock’s Republican opponent, Herschel Walker, faced new accusations of violent behavior.At a campaign rally for the Democratic incumbent, Sen. Raphael Warnock, former President Barack Obama urged voters to head to the polls and expand Democrats’ majority in the Senate.Nicole Craine for The New York TimesATLANTA — The final days of Georgia’s Senate runoff campaign have formed a familiar pattern. Democrats try to stir enthusiasm with high-profile surrogates and a million-dollar ad campaign. Republicans largely find themselves in damage control mode. And yet neither party can claim the upper hand, as one of the most hotly contested races of the midterms remains a tossup.That pattern played out on Thursday as former President Barack Obama visited Georgia for the second time in just over a month to campaign with Senator Raphael Warnock, the Democratic incumbent facing Herschel Walker, the Republican former football star.Hours before the evening rally, Mr. Walker’s campaign was the focus of attention after a woman who had been in a long-term relationship with Mr. Walker said that he had attacked her in a rage in 2005 after she caught him with another woman.Mr. Walker’s campaign did not comment about the allegations from the woman, Cheryl Parsa. Ms. Parsa, who said she had been in a five-year relationship with Mr. Walker, described how he had put his hands on her throat and chest and swung his fist at her as she ducked out of the way.The discordant split screen on the campaign trail on Thursday illustrated the stark differences between the imagery of the two campaigns in a race that polls show remains within the margin of error.For Democrats, Mr. Obama’s visit was the emotional high point of weeks of nearly nonstop organizing, canvassing and voter mobilization ahead of the runoff election on Tuesday. His last visit to Georgia came in October during the general election, just shy of two weeks before Election Day. His event in Atlanta with Mr. Warnock on Thursday was viewed by Democrats as an ironclad way to ensure that Black voters, a must-win constituency in the state, remain enthusiastic, despite back-to-back elections and runoffs that have sent Georgia voters to the polls four times in the last two years.“We can’t be complacent,” Mr. Obama told a crowd of hundreds of supporters in Atlanta. “We have to run through the tape. That means all of us doing our part to make sure that Raphael Warnock goes back to the United States Senate.”What to Know About Georgia’s Senate RunoffCard 1 of 6Another runoff in Georgia. More
Despite all the tough headlines, he could prevail. Here are two theories about how the runoff could unfold.The steady stream of tough headlines for Herschel Walker has always obscured one stubborn fact about the Senate race in Georgia: He could still win.With the runoff election just days away, the conventional wisdom holds that Senator Raphael Warnock is waltzing toward re-election against an inexperienced Republican opponent who has a thin grasp on policy issues, avoids reporters, faces serious allegations about his personal conduct and has been known to ramble on the stump. But if things were that simple, Warnock would have won handily in November.And if there’s one thing American politics keeps teaching us, it’s to be humble about predicting what voters will do. With that in mind, here are two basic ways to look at the Georgia runoff on Tuesday:The case for WarnockUnder this theory, the runoff is Warnock’s to lose.Many Republicans will stay home, the thinking goes, because they no longer believe that their vote matters much. It’s hard to make the case that 51 Democrats in the Senate, as opposed to 50, would represent some huge threat to conservative priorities and values. Denying Democrats a majority vote on Senate committees is not the kind of argument that fires up the Republican base.Runoff elections are driven by who can persuade more of their supporters to vote yet another time. And Warnock has a battle-tested turnout operation that has now performed well over three elections.The Walker campaign, by contrast, is relying on Gov. Brian Kemp — who is no longer on the ballot — to drag a weak candidate across the finish line. Senate Republicans have basically rented Kemp’s field program for the runoff, but it’s not at all clear that an operation built to turn out voters for Kemp can change gears so easily. Walker drew about 200,000 fewer votes than Kemp did, suggesting that there’s a large chunk of Republican voters who find the Senate hopeful unworthy. Forced to stand on his own two feet, Walker might crumble.Democrats are also outspending Republicans heavily down the stretch. Since Nov. 9, they’ve spent more than double what Republicans have spent on the runoff on digital and television advertising — nearly $53 million versus a little over $24 million, according to AdImpact, a media tracking firm. The two parties were much closer to parity in the three months before Election Day, though Democrats had a slight edge in spending.The case for WalkerThe second theory rests on the fact that Georgia is still fundamentally a right-leaning state, as this year’s blowout race for governor showed. Perhaps the state’s historical tendencies will prove decisive in the runoff, whatever Walker’s deficiencies as a candidate.Warnock finished ahead of Walker in the general election by fewer than 40,000 votes. The Libertarian candidate, Chase Oliver, received more than 81,000 votes — and he is not on the ballot this time. Oliver earned about 50,000 votes more than the Libertarian candidate did in the race for governor, suggesting that he was a sponge for conservatives who could not stomach Walker. If only 46 percent of Oliver’s supporters vote for the Republican this time, Warnock’s margin on Nov. 8 will be completely erased.It’s possible, too, that voters who chose Kemp but not Walker in November will change their minds — if they show up, that is. Walker drew a lower share of the vote than Kemp did, not just in metro Atlanta but also in the most conservative areas of the state. According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Walker ran behind Kemp by at least six percentage points in eight counties — most of them Republican strongholds, with the exception of Cobb County.Walker’s indictment of Warnock was always a simple one: He’s another vote for President Biden’s agenda. And, Biden, with an approval rating in the 30s or low 40s, is about as popular in Georgia as the Florida Gators. So Warnock was careful, during his lone debate with Walker, not to associate himself too closely with Biden.What to Know About Georgia’s Senate RunoffCard 1 of 6Another runoff in Georgia. More
