'Twas the night before Georgia's runoff election, and all through the state, things were looking fairly decent for Raphael Warnock. The Democratic senator, who is on the ballot for the fifth time in about two years—this time, competing against Herschel Walker for a full six-year term in the Senate—was leading his Republican opponent by 4 or 5 points in recent polls, and Democrats had a 13-point edge in early voting as of Monday night, NBC News reports. That's a significant increase over the 8-point edge Democrats had in early voting prior to the November election. While Walker is expected to get more votes on Tuesday, it's not clear whether he'll be able to get enough of them. He "needs to win Election Day by double digits," says an adviser to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp. More coverage on the eve of the runoff:
- Republican hopes fading: Politico reports that the general mood amongst the GOP has turned pessimistic, though both sides are expecting the final outcome to be close, and both sides acknowledge Walker could still pull off a victory. Even so, headlines like this from Axios were easy to find: "The Georgia Senate runoff is Raphael Warnock’s to lose."
- Democrat hopes are heading in the other direction: Meanwhile, the Hill looks at the reasons Democrats are feeling optimistic: Warnock is seen as a top candidate, with none of the scandals that plague Walker; Warnock has already won one runoff election, in January 2021; and this time around, Walker does not have the bonus of the popular Kemp being atop the ballot, as he was in November.