Politics professor discusses influence of Georgia’s Senate runoff election

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) – We’re a few week away from the beginning of early voting for Georgia’s runoff election.

Georgia isn’t any stranger to elections with excessive stakes however now, loads of that stress has been eliminated off of the race between Senator Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker after Democratic victories within the senate races in Nevada and Arizona permitting democrats to retain management of the chamber.

However, an necessary endorsement for Herschel Walker is also at play relating to voter turnout this December.

Former President Donald Trump, reiterating his help for Walker, throughout his personal 2024 presidential marketing campaign announcement. Dr. Joshua Kennedy, a politics professor at Georgia Southern says this endorsement, could not go the way in which Walker hopes.

“I do assume that there’s a possible impact from Trump’s announcement. That raises the stakes considerably, however I feel it raises the stakes extra for people who find themselves against him. I do assume it might have an effect on turnout considerably, however I feel it might be likelier to influence turnout on the democratic aspect somewhat than the republican aspect.”

Now that the senate majority has been determined, Dr. Kennedy additionally says some voters might lose their motivation to get to the polls.

“I simply assume the truth that the Senate is not on the road, implies that those that are much less invested, those that can tip a race a method or one other, those that might actually go both means, they don’t have as a lot of an incentive to turnout anymore. I feel that turnout general for the runoff election might be decrease than what we noticed within the common election.”

Dr. Kennedy says he sees runoff elections changing into a extra widespread development in Georgia, and that there’s potential for them to grow to be more and more extra frequent in future elections – significantly in races for federal places of work.

Whereas Georgia will not determine the senate majority, it is going to determine how huge the Democrat’s majority might be.

The runoff election is Dec. 6.

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