More than a quarter-million vote in single day in Georgia Senate runoff race

More than a quarter-million voters on Monday cast their ballots in Georgia’s Senate runoff during early voting, breaking the state’s record for a single day of early voting as incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock (D) and Republican challenger Herschel Walker vie for the key seat.

“Just…WOW! GA voters, facilitated through the hard work of county election & poll workers, have shattered the old Early Vote turnout, with 300,438 Georgians casting their votes today,” said top Georgia elections official Gabriel Sterling in a Twitter update. 

The previous record for an early voting day was around 233,000, a spokesperson for Georgia’s secretary of state told The Hill.

Georgia voters “blew up the old record,” which was set on the last day of early voting in the 2018 midterm elections, Sterling said. 

Neither Warnock nor Walker won more than 50 percent of the vote in the midterm general election, kicking the race into a runoff and dragging out the competitive campaigns until Dec. 6.

Democrats have already secured the Senate with 50 seats, with Vice President Harris the tiebreaking vote. The Georgia race will determine whether they expand their upper chamber majority or whether Republicans keep the Senate at a 50-50 split.

Georgia saw record voter turnout throughout November’s midterm election and has been seeing similarly staggering figures since the runoff’s early voting period started over the weekend.

More Georgians voted on Sunday than on any Sunday in the 2021 Senate runoff — or in the 2018, 2020 and 2022 general elections, a spokesperson for the Georgia secretary of state confirmed to The Hill on Monday.

Data from the Georgia secretary of state showed more than 181,000 Georgians had already cast their ballots as of just after midnight early Monday.

Warnock and Walker have kicked their campaigns into overdrive as they vie for the Senate seat a second time. The Democrat had a 1-point lead in the general election.

Updated 10:15 p.m.