ATLANTA — Former President Barack Obama urged Georgia voters Thursday night not to get complacent in the runoff between incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock and his GOP challenger Herschel Walker, warning that the stakes are too high for Democrats to lose.
“I’m here to tell you we can’t tune out,” he told a cheering crowd in Atlanta. “We have to run through the tape, and I know you can do it because you did it before.”
Obama made the comments on the eve of the last day of early voting ahead of Tuesday’s contest that pits the senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church against a Georgia football legend.
Runoff elections are often won by whichever candidate rallies supporters the most to come out and vote. In Atlanta, Democrats called on their star player to get the job done.
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“You have the power to determine the course of this country,” an energized Obama said. “If voters here in Georgia had stayed home two years ago, Republicans would have kept control of the Senate, and they would have blocked every single piece of legislation that President Biden and Democrats passed.”
Thursday marked Obama’s second trip to Georgia this election cycle. The former president is widely viewed as the go-to surrogate in the Democratic Party and is seen as a key closer in tight races. He harnessed his popularity in other battleground states — Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa, Nevada, Arizona, and Pennsylvania — and helped bring back impressive wins in the midterm elections. His party is hoping he can do it again in Georgia.
Neither Warnock nor Walker had enough votes in the general election to secure an outright win and were forced into a runoff. So far, voters have already cast more than 1.4 million ballots.
The Democratic Party has put a priority on grassroots organizing while also relying on star power to motivate its base. Former first lady Michelle Obama taped two robocalls on behalf of Warnock, while actresses America Ferrera and Tessa Thompson held an event for Latino voters. The party is strategically keeping President Joe Biden away, afraid that sky-high inflation and unpopular policies may sway voters against Warnock.
Similarly, Walker’s camp is keeping former President Donald Trump away, opting instead to lean on popular Republicans like Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, who joined Walker on the campaign trail and cut a commercial for him.
A Warnock win is crucial to Democrats in the Senate and would give them a majority that would make it much easier for Biden to pass his legislative agenda, even though Republicans will take control of the House in January.
In Atlanta, even as Warnock and Obama spoke about the importance of voting, they also poked fun at Walker, who has made headline-grabbing comments. The political newcomer claimed he had the miracle cure for COVID-19 (he didn’t), questioned evolution (wondering why apes still exist), and thought there were 52 states in America. When corrected, he said there should be and one day maybe would be 52 states.
Walker’s comments once again went viral after he went on a tangent about vampires and werewolves about a week ago, telling those at a rally that while he had once wanted to be a vampire, he considered the option more closely and decided he would rather be a werewolf.
His statements have also been used in an attack ad against him that captured voters’ reactions to his musings.
Obama also weighed in.
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“Since the last time I was here, Mr. Walker has been talking about issues that are of great importance to the people of Georgia, like whether it’s better to be a vampire or a werewolf,” Obama said with a laugh. “This is a debate I once had myself when I was 7. Then I grew up. In case you’re wondering, by the way, Mr. Walker decided he wanted to be a werewolf, which is great. As far as I’m concerned, he can be anything he wants to be except for a United States senator.”
