Sen. Raphael Warnock's convincing and historic win in the Georgia runoff election is, of course, a personal victory for a man of quality and substance over an unqualified (to say the least) Trump- picked opponent. It's also historic. He's the first African American elected to a full 6- year term from the State of Georgia.
As of this writing, Warnock has 51.4% of the vote compared to his opponent's 48.6%, and a margin of victory approaching 100,000. His victory confirms Georgia as a bona fide swing state that some analysts are saying is trending Democratic the way Virginia has trended in the past few decades. It also marks another humiliation for the Malignant Loser, whose disastrous endorsements have played a major role in turning what inept pundits were wishcasting as a "red wave" election into a ripple.
Significantly, it gives Democrats a 51-49 edge in the Senate for the next 2 years, which has major implications:
For [Majority Leader] Schumer, Warnock's triumph means he does not have to again negotiate a power-sharing arrangement with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
In 2020, Schumer and McConnell settled on an agreement to share power in the evenly split chamber after an early stalemate that stalled the confirmation of President Biden's cabinet nominees.
At the time, McConnell insisted that Democrats maintain the Senate filibuster requiring 60 members – instead of a simple majority – to end debate on the floor before moving to vote.
McConnell only dropped his demand after moderate Democrats Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia said they wouldn't vote to undercut the filibuster, leaving Schumer short of 51 votes needed to kill the minority party protection.
Without McConnell's capitulation, the chamber would have been paralyzed, with Senate Democrats unable to take full control despite being in the majority...
Warnock's victory also dilutes the Manchin/Sinema grip on the Democratic agenda in the Senate:
Democrats now have enough wiggle room to lose one vote in their caucus and still move bills through the chamber without issue.
Not only will Vice President Kamala Harris not likely have to be called in for as many tie-breaking votes, the extra seat has also changed how they factor Joe Manchin into their political calculus.
The West Virginia moderate [sic] often held his party hostage in the early years of Biden's term, leveraging Democrats' narrow majority to trim some of the president's legislative priorities on votes that needed complete Democratic unity to pass. Manchin often cites not being comfortable voting against the will of his constituents.
"I have always said, 'If I can't go back home and explain it, I can't vote for it,'" Manchin wrote in a 2021 statement explaining his opposition to Biden's Build Back Better Act as it was initially pitched.
Though the bill eventually passed that November, Manchin forced negotiations that reduced its size, scope and cost...
The 51st Democratic vote that Sen. Warnock represents is a gamechanger, even with Republican control of the House for the next 2 years. Now, the Dems just need to take advantage of that gift to the greatest extent possible. Let's start with getting more judges, ambassadors and agency executives confirmed!
BONUS: A great moment last night --
Sen. Raphael Warnock thanked his mother at his victory speech: "She grew up in the 1950s in Waycross, Georgia, picking somebody else's cotton and somebody else's tobacco. But tonight, she helped pick her youngest son to be a United States senator." https://t.co/IraSKhFkBg pic.twitter.com/u0Qo5mvC4X
— CNN (@CNN) December 7, 2022
And --
Warnock: "Just because people endured long lines ... the rain and the cold and all kind of tricks in order to vote, it doesn't mean that voter suppression doesn't exist. It simply means that you the people have decided your voices will not be silenced." pic.twitter.com/KdNyIc3Ozc
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 7, 2022
(Photo: Sen. Warnock celebrates his historic victory/ John Bazemore, AP)
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