In final push, Warnock, Walker plead with their voters to turn out

ATLANTA — Georgia Senate candidates Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker made their closing arguments on the final day of campaigning Monday, focusing their efforts on convincing base voters to turn out and cast their ballots on Tuesday.

Warnock, the Democratic incumbent, was spending the campaign’s final day in Atlanta, meeting with local union members, college students and Atlanta-based rap artist Killer Mike and ending with a final campaign rally at a local brewery.

“Nothing can be more important for our democracy in the moment than you showing up,” Warnock told the crowd of college students. “They said you wouldn’t show up, but you’re showing up and it’s making a difference. A huge difference.”

Walker, his GOP challenger, took his bus tour to northern Georgia, planning five final campaign stops in Republican strongholds including Flowery Branch and Dawsonville. On his last day, Walker stumped alone without his most useful surrogate in the state, re-elected Gov. Brian Kemp (R). Kemp outperformed Walker by almost 5 points in November and retains a high favorability margin in the state, according to internal polling from the Walker campaign.

“I feel pretty good about tomorrow. That’s what we’re working on right now,” Walker told news crews in Dawsonville. “We’re working on turnout, turnout, turnout. So trying to get the people out to turnout the vote.”

Former President Donald Trump, who hand-picked Walker despite concerns over his electability, was scheduled to hold a telephone call with supporters Monday night to urge them to turn out. The former president previously kept his distance from Walker because internal polling from the Walker campaign showed a Trump visit might backfire for the Republican campaign.

Warnock’s decision to spend the day in Atlanta, a strong Democratic hub, shows his continued focus to increase voter turnout. Even after several record-breaking days of early voting, Warnock said Sunday night that there were still more voters to reach. About 50 percent of registered voters participated in the November election and turnout for the runoff is expected to be less than that, particularly since rain is forecast across the state for Tuesday.

The results are expected to be close — the difference in November’s election was fewer than 38,000 votes. More than 1.8 million people have already cast an early or absentee ballot in the runoff election.

In Georgia’s capitol, Warnock rallied with local union members at a UPS Smart Hub at the start of the work day, then crossed town to meet with students on the Georgia Tech campus. There he was flanked by Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) and Rep.-elect Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.), the first member of Generation Z to be elected to Congress.

“We know that young people don’t make up the biggest voter block right now. But we are the block that matters,” Frost said. “We are the block that decides the margins. This is the block that elected Sen. Rev. Raphael Warnock two years ago. And this is the block that’s going to elect him now.”

Walker will continue on the campaign trail with stops in Ellijay and Calhoun before ending the day with a final get-out-the-vote rally at the Governors Gun Club in Kennesaw, a town in Cobb County.

Warnock will round out his day with an event with Atlanta-based rapper Killer Mike at The Swag Shop barbershop and a final rally at a West End Atlanta brewery in the evening.

Meridith McGraw and Natalie Allison contributed to this report.