'We put up one heck of a fight': Walker concedes Senate runoff to Warnock

ATLANTA - Republican candidate Herschel Walker took to the podium Tuesday night to thank his supporters, his staff, and God for giving him the opportunity to run in Georgia's Senate race after his projected loss to incumbent Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock.

"The numbers look like they’re not going to add up," Walker, an ally and friend of former President Donald Trump, told supporters at the College Football Hall of Fame in downtown Atlanta. "There’s no excuses in life, and I’m not going to make any excuses now because we put up one heck of a fight."

In last month’s election, Warnock led Walker by 37,000 votes out of almost 4 million cast, but fell short of the 50% threshold needed to avoid a runoff. The senator appeared to be headed for a wider final margin in Tuesday’s runoff, with Walker, a football legend at the University of Georgia and in the NFL, unable to overcome a bevy of damaging allegations, including claims that he paid for two former girlfriends’ abortions despite supporting a national ban on the procedure.

Georgia Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker delivers his concession speech during an election night event at the College Football Hall of Fame on December 6, 2022 in Atlanta, Georgia.(Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Speaking to the crowd, Walker said that the "best thing I've ever done in my whole entire life is run for this Senate seat right here" because of the chance to meet all of his supporters.

"I want to say I'm never going to stop fighting for Georgia. I'm never going to stop fighting for you because you're my family," he said.

Despite the Senate loss, Walker asked his Republicans to not give up hope and continue working together. 

"I want you to continue to believe in this country, believe in our elected officials, and most of all, stay together," he said. "Don't let anyone separate you. Don't let anyone tell you that we can't because I'm here to tell you we can."

Democrats’ Georgia victory solidifies the state’s place as a Deep South battleground two years after Warnock and fellow Georgia Democrat Jon Ossoff won 2021 runoffs that gave the party Senate control just months after Biden became the first Democratic presidential candidate in 30 years to win Georgia. Voters returned Warnock to the Senate in the same cycle they reelected Republican Gov. Brian Kemp by a comfortable margin and chose an all-GOP slate of statewide constitutional officers.

Democrats’ new outright majority in the Senate means the party will no longer have to negotiate a power-sharing deal with Republicans and won’t have to rely on Vice President Kamala Harris to break as many tie votes.

About 1.9 million runoff votes were cast in Georgia by mail and during early voting. A robust Election Day turnout added about 1.4 million more, slightly more than the Election Day totals in November and in 2020.

Total turnout still trailed the 2021 runoff turnout of about 4.5 million.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.