WASHINGTON — In less than one week, Georgia voters will decide the fate of the U.S. Senate.
Either Democrats will expand their razor-thin majority with a victory for incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock, or Republicans will maintain the 50/50 spilt with a Herschel Walker victory.
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The anticipated red wave turned out to be more of a red ripple in the 2022 midterm, with Republicans taking a bare majority in the U.S. House and failing to pick up any seats in the Senate.
In an exclusive interview with Action News Jax, U.S. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Florida) blamed the underwhelming result on Republicans failing to get their message to voters.
“If you look at the polls and the polls say, what, two-thirds of Americans plus don’t like the direction of this country, then we didn’t get out message out about what we’re gonna do to reduce inflation, reduce crime,” he said.
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Scott heads the National Republican Senatorial Committee, so delivering victories for Republican U.S. Senate candidates is a big part of his responsibility.
Now, Scott said it’s imperative for Republicans to win Georgia.
Walker came up 36,000 votes short of Warnock in November.
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Warnock has also outraised and outspent Walker throughout the campaign.
But Scott told us he doesn’t see money as the deciding factor Tuesday.
“As long as we get our vote out, which I think we will,” Scott said.
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And while Republicans won’t take a majority in the Senate even if Walker does win, Scott argued maintaining a 50/50 split has its advantages for Republicans.
“In every committee, we’ll have the same number of Republicans and Democrats. That means that legislation cannot be passed without it being bipartisan,” Scott said.
On the flip side, University of North Florida Sean Freeder political science professor said if Democrats win Georgia, they’ll take majorities on all Senate committees, helping them push their agenda without GOP support.
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“Avoiding blocked votes. For instance, Joe Manchin has not been a reliable voter for the Democratic Party. You know, by having that 51st vote there, there may be a little bit of flexibility where they could lose him maybe pick up the other vote and that would work out for them,” Freeder said.
So far more than 800,000 Georgia voters have cast a ballot ahead of the runoff election Tuesday.
Freeder said he expects the victor will likely be determined based on which party is able to best turnout their base.
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