amna: Tomorrow, Georgians will
decide the final uncalled race
of the 2022 midterm elections.
The runoff contest between
democratic senator Raphael
Warnock and Republican Herschel
walker comes after neither
received a majority of the vote
in November.
Unlike last year, the race will
not determine the balance of
power in the senate but it is
still neck and neck, with record
numbers of early voting.
Laura barron-lopez traveled to
Georgia and has this report.
Laura: Outside a polling place
in a Decatur shopping mall are
some of the people that turned
Georgia blue in 2020, now trying
for a repeat.
>> Oh I see you dancing, come on
now, that's right.
Can I give you a first bump, oh!
Laura: Here and all over the
state, the mobilizing group
black voters matter offers a
free t-shirt for a voter's phone
number.
>> Now all you gotta do is
forward that to five friends.
If everyone we touch tells five
other people, guess what?
That's how we build an army.
That's how we build a movement.
Laura: Cliff Albright is one of
the groupa™™s founders, and has
lived in Georgia for over a
decade.
Since 2016, he and others have
transformed Democrat's
ground-game in the state.
This runoff, he says they have
reached at least 2 million black
voters.
>> How do we get people excited?
How do we create enthusiasm? How
do we get people to feel like
that they really matter, right?
There's a lot of people that
care about black votes, that
don't care about black voters.
We want people to know that we
care about them and our
communities and our issues.
Laura: Many we spoke to in this
predominantly black and
democratic area were backing
senator Raphael Warnock, a
pastor at the nearby ebenezer
Baptist church, where the
reverend doctor martin Luther
king Jr. Once preached.
>> Are you ready to win this
election?
Laura: Warnock holds a slight
advantage in recent polls as he
fights for a full, six year term
against Republican Herschel
walker - a Georgia football
legend with a full-throated
endorsement from former
president Donald Trump.
Georgians at this early voting
site in Atlanta have been
waiting in line over an hour as
they try to cast their ballot.
Walker and senator Warnock have
had only 28 days instead of 2
months to get voters to the
polls a second time.
>> What they've done to this
country in two short years.
We give them any more time, we
won't recognize America again.
Laura: Republicans see critical
ground to make up.
Walker finished narrowly behind
Warnock last month.
But he received 200,000 fewer
votes than Republican governor
Brian Kemp.
The two campaigned together to
try to close that gap, with
Kemp making the case that walker
would vote to support law
enforcement and cut taxes in the
senate.
>> Do you want a guy that
represents our values like
Herschel walker or do you want
somebody that's stood with Joe
Biden 96% of the time?
Laura: For months, walker has
faced a barrage of scandals,
including multiple allegations
of domestic abuse and two former
partners who have said walker
pressured and paid for them to
have abortions, which is at odds
with walker's antiabortion
stance.
At a walker event in deep-red
muskogee county, Republican
voters either took the football
star at his word, or said they
wanted a reliable vote against
president Joe Biden's agenda.
>> He stands for the values that
I stand for.
I'm a pro-life person.
I don't like the policies of the
Biden administration.
>> What did you make of the
reports for the fact that he
paid for an abortion for one of
his ex-girlfriend?
>> I don't know what to believe
anymore.
People can say anything.
I also believe in redemption and
I believe people can make
mistakes and turn their lives
around.
Laura: Those allegations have
Republicans worried about
walker's ability to turn out
conservatives.
Walker supporters hope to win
them back.
Bell kivu is skeptical.
>> I don't know if they will be
energized to go out and vote.
Laura: Vu is one of the 200,000
split-ticket Republicans who
backed Kemp, but not walker.
>> Asking us to vote for
Herschel walker, the candidate
is akin to perhaps playing
Russian roulette with American
democracy.
Laura: The former vice chair of
the DeKalb county election
board, Vu has vocally defended
the integrity of the 2020 vote
in Georgia.
He sees walker's statements
denying the legitimacy of the
election as disqualifying, and
doesn't think the runoff will
push anti-walker Republicans to
reconsider.
>> Herschel walker had a chance
to stand on the side of truth
and honesty the same way that
governor Kemp did, the same way
that secretary raffensperger
Instead, he basically took a
stand on a waterbed of lies.
>> If you are a poll watcher,
god bless you.
Laura: But among the Republican
base, belief in lies about a
rigged election system remains
strong.
At the Cobb county GOP
headquarters, many are
volunteering as poll watchers in
the runoff, and they are
encouraged to report anything
they consider to be fraud or
disenfranchisement.
After a prayer, work began on
phone banking and canvassing for
walker.
Joyce Wice said she believes
walker is honest and will
support fiscal responsibility in
the senate.
When asked about the allegations
that he paid for an abortion,
she said it didn't line up with
his purported values.
>> Herschel walker, in a direct
quote, said that's a flat out
And I believe him.
Laura: Walker's core message has
not changed for the runoff.
>> I am a warrior for god.
Laura: His stump speech likened
a vote for Democrats to sending
Georgia to hell and focused on
transgender players in sports
and gender identity.
>> What the heck is a pronoun?
I don't even know what a pronoun
is.
Let's give him a pronoun.
Let's give him former senator
pronoun.
>> This race is about character
and competence.
Laura: Warnock is also pulling
from his general election
playbook, bringing back former
president Barack Obama to rally
voters in Kirkwood:
-- Kirkwood.
>> I am back.
Yes, we can.
Laura: Roughly 5,000 packed into
Pullman yards, a historic rail
yard turned event venue to hear
him speak.
Multiple black Georgians told
newshour they viewed walker's
candidacy as an attempt by
Republicans to win them over
through representation rather
than substance.
69% of white voters compared to
just 3% of black voters support
walker, according to a recent
CNN poll.
>> I think a lot of people are
just irritated by his opponent
and that's forcing people to
come out.
Laura: Irritated how?
>> Irritated in that you just
feel you can replace one black
with another.
With another.
So give me at least someone
that's comparable in intellect.
Laura: In the final days,
Warnock has focused on voting
rights, and the lawsuit his
campaign filed and won against
Republican state officials to
allow for Saturday early voting.
>> We saw record voter turnout
last weekend but don't forget
what we had to do just so that
could happen.
Laura: This is the first runoff
since Georgia passed senate bill
202 last year, which made it
harder to receive a mail-in
ballot, reduced the number of
drop boxes, and shortened early
voting.
Republican officials have
pointed to the record early
turnout as evidence that the law
did not restrict access but
Albright said those changes made
a difference.
>> Two years ago, we were able
to spend a month just
registering new voters just for
the runoff that weren't eligible
for the general.
We could not do that because in
a 30 day period, the cutoff for
voter registration was actually
the day before the general
election.
Laura: Black pac, like other get
out the vote organizations, is
reaching millions of voters by
repeatedly knocking on doors
until the last days before the
election.
>> I'm with a black pac,
reminding people of the
election.
Laura: Senate control may
already be determined, but the
stakes for an increasingly
diverse Georgia could not be
higher.
For the pbs newshour, I am Laura
barron-lopez in Atlanta,