Split-ticket Georgia voters keeping Walker from victory while reelecting Kemp

Split-ticket voters in Georgia are playing a significant role in tightening the Senate race between Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and Republican Herschel Walker — after reelecting Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA) by a nearly 10-point margin.

Neither candidate in the Senate race has yet to surpass the 50% threshold necessary to avoid a runoff, with 84% of the vote counted. In the gubernatorial race between Kemp and his 2018 Democratic opponent, Stacey Abrams, the incumbent governor was declared the winner before 80% of precincts reported their results, given that he earned 54% of the vote and comfortably evaded a runoff.

Experts have predicted for months that vote-splitters, those who back a Republican in one race and abstain or choose a Democrat in the other, could be a deciding voting block in the Senate contest. Walker, who rose to folk-hero status in Georgia as a Heisman Trophy-winning football star, has been in a statistical tie with Warnock for the final weeks of the race. Kemp consistently and comfortably led Abrams in that same time frame.

While it's rare for Georgia voters to split their ticket, a number of Republicans and independent Kemp voters have told pollsters that they were hesitating on backing Walker due to his string of controversies, including multiple accusations of domestic violence and reports that he paid for numerous women's abortions despite campaigning on an anti-abortion platform.