Georgia US Senate race between Walker and Warnock could head to runoff election

Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and GOP challenger Herschel Walker are competing in Georgia's widely-watched U.S. Senate race that will help determine the balance of power in Congress, but if neither candidate secures a majority of the vote, the Peach State contest will head to a December runoff.

Warnock entered office last year after winning a special election runoff. Walker, a former NFL player, had the backing of former President Donald Trump during the U.S. Senate contest.

Walker has been accused of paying for women to get abortions, though the pro-life figure has denied the allegations.

One woman, who alleged that Walker urged her to get an abortion and then reimbursed her for the procedure, is a registered Democrat and the mother of one of Walker's children, according to the Daily Beast. In an interview with ABC News Live anchor Linsey Davis, Walker denied the abortion-related allegations and accused the woman who made the allegations of lying. According to the New York Times, the woman said that Walker had "maybe only seen" the 10-year-old child "three times." Walker told Davis that the claim was "not true" and that it had been made "difficult" for him to see the child.

Walker has also denied the allegations of another woman who accused him of pressuring her to terminate a pregnancy and of paying for an abortion.

But while Walker has run as a pro-life candidate, Warnock, the senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, is openly pro-choice. Warnock's campaign website calls him "a pro-choice pastor" with "a profound reverence for life and an abiding respect for choice."

Democrats headed into the 2022 midterms with a precarious grip on power in the Senate, with the chamber divided 50-50 between 50 Republicans, 48 Democrats, and two independent lawmakers who caucus with the Democrats. Vice President Kamala Harris' role as tie-breaker has given Democrats the upper hand in the chamber.