Georgia becomes Donald Trump's double test choice

Another US election? In fact, and that already on Tuesday, if only in the state of Georgia (almost eleven million inhabitants). This is a by-election: As of the midterms four weeks ago, none of the candidates for the Senate seat had achieved the 50 percent required by Georgia electoral law.

So now incumbent Senator Raphael Warnock, 53, is campaigning for re-election from the Democrats. Republican ex-football player Herschel Walker, 60, would like to replace him in Washington. Warnock is a politically experienced man, having long been the senior pastor at the legendary Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, once the church of Martin Luther King. Walker is a newcomer who has attracted attention with all sorts of scandals. He used to play in the National Football League. In the November 8 election, Warnock got 49.4 percent and Walker 48.5 percent.

Painful for the Republican: While Governor Brian Kemp was sovereignly confirmed in office on the same day, Walker fell by the wayside. Many voters had voted for Conservative Kemp as Governor and Democrat Warnock as Senator. Spicy: Kemp is an opponent of Donald Trump because he did not “turn around” the 2020 presidential election that Trump lost in Georgia in his favor. Trump therefore supported a challenger to Kemp in the party's internal primaries, financed anti-Kemp advertising. Trump's candidate was defeated internally, and Kemp also won the general election - while Trump candidate Walker performed disappointingly.

Now this election on Tuesday is a double test election for Trump. The people of the peach state of Georgia will decide whether or not to send a candidate heavily supported by Trump to Washington. And indirectly, people are voting on Trump, who announced three weeks ago that he would run for the White House again.

Significantly, Trump has not held a single rally for his "friend" Walker in recent weeks. Should Trump have come to the conclusion that his presence rather reduces Walker's chances of being elected? Trump has definitely made a name for himself in the past few days. At the end of November he invited anti-Semites Kanye West, 45, who now calls himself Ye, and Nick Fuentes, 24, to a dinner. Fuentes is a Holocaust denier and racist. Trump claims not to have known Fuentes, a cult figure of the radical right, before.

Ye recently proclaimed, "I like Hitler" and "I love Nazis," after the controversial dinner at Trump's Florida home. A number of Republicans condemned the meeting with Ye and Fuentes, often without mentioning Trump's name. The influence of the ex-president in the party is still great.

Consequently, Walker's election campaign dispenses with Trump's physical presence in Georgia. However, the 76-year-old takes part in online events.

In the election campaign, both candidates are now trying to highlight the weaknesses of the other. "Herschel Walker isn't serious," says Warnock. Walker is "a master of lies" and doesn't know the basics of politics. Walker, in turn, calls Warnock a "hypocrite" and subservient to President Joe Biden. While Governor Brian Kemp had kept his distance from fellow party member Walker in his own campaign, he is now giving him support. Kemp also knows why he got about 200,000 more votes than Walker. Many voters apparently consider Walker unsuitable as a senator.

The outcome of the election is considered open. The fact that Warnock was ahead last time and only won the Senate post in 2021 speaks for Warnock's victory. But what is the effect of the fact that the Democrats already have a secure majority in the Senate? In the midterm elections a month ago, Democrat John Fetterman won a previously Republican Senate seat in Pennsylvania. This means that the Democrats will have 50 seats in the future Senate and the Republicans will have 49.

Should the Republicans win Georgia, both parties will provide 50 senators in the future. In the event of a tie, the vote of Vice President Kamala Harris decides.

A 51st seat for the Democrats would be a hefty win for President Joe Biden. But it is quite possible that Democrats will stay away from the election because of the already existing Senate majority. If the Republicans win, there would be a loyal Trump supporter in the Senate.

And Trump could claim that even meetings with racists and anti-Semites do not harm him or his party's image. Rather, Trump would probably sell a Walker victory as a success in his candidacy for the White House.