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CNN Projects Democrat Raphael Warnock Wins Senate Race; Herschel Walker Concedes Senate Race To Raphael Warnock. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired December 07, 2022 - 00:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:00:50]

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Kasie Hunt live in Washington. We begin with the major win tonight for Democrats.

CNN projects Senator Raphael Warnock will win reelection in that very close runoff election against Herschel Walker.

The race closes out a difficult midterm cycle for Republicans who did win a slim majority in the House. But after tonight, they've lost ground in the Senate. Warnock's victory gives Democrats a 51 to 49 edge. It is a critical seat because it gives them a majority in all the Senate committees and it limits the influence of any single moderate Democrat. They have at times held up President Biden's agenda.

Senator Warnock spoke with supporters at his campaign headquarters in Atlanta a short time ago, he said he was honored to repeat the four most important words that he says were ever uttered in a democracy that people have spoken.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RAPHAEL WARNOCK (D-GA): I want to say thank you to my mother who is here tonight. We'll see her in a little while. But she grew up in the 1950s in Waycross, Georgia picking somebody else's cotton and somebody else's tobacco. But tonight, she helped pick her youngest son to be a United States Senator.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Never a bad plan to thank your mom. Herschel Walker conceded defeat in a short speech at his campaign headquarters in Atlanta. About an hour ago, he thanked his supporters and pledged that he would continue to work for the voters of Georgia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HERSCHEL WALKER (R), SENATORIAL CANDIDATE OF GEORGIA: One of the things I want to tell all of you is you never stop dreaming. I don't want any of you to stop dreaming. I don't want any of you to stop believing in America. I want you to believe in America and continue to believe in the Constitution and believe in our elected officials. Most of all, continue to pray for them because all the prayers you've given me, I felt those prayers.

I want to thank all my, team as well, team Herschel because they put up with a lot. And I want to thank team Herschel, thank all my donors, as well, because you guys without you, I couldn't have done what I've done.

So, I want to thank all of you as well, because 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: It's going to be a lot to chew on there. And we're going to talk about it with our great panel in just a second.

But first, I want to get straight to CNN Political Director David Chalian who is at the magic wall for us. David, help us understand what unfolded tonight and what it -- what it has taught us about the voters of Georgia and the state of the country.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes. And where it leaves us, Kasie, as you noted, this is the Senate now that America wakes up to this morning, a new balance of power 51 Democrats, 49 Republicans. Democrats have increased their majority in the United States Senate and they did it with this Georgia runoff, this last race of the cycle to be called.

I want you to note here, right now in the vote count, you have Raphael Warnock, 82,801 votes ahead of Herschel Walker, 51.2 percent to 48.8 percent. This is 99 percent of the estimated vote is in, obviously we projected Warnock the winner here, but we're going to see these votes change as more vote gets reported.

I want to note, if you look back to November 8th, and you take a look at the runoff at the general election there. You see that Raphael Warnock emerged ahead of Herschel Walker by 37,675 votes, that was just four weeks ago. Look at how his margin increased to now 82,801 votes.

Well, how did he do this? Take a look. We can show you. This is the votes as they came in tonight, I'm going to show you where Warnock over performed what he did four weeks ago on November 8th, nearly everywhere.

[00:05:03]

I mean, say about 14 counties, he over performed everywhere, including critically up here in the Atlanta area and in the suburbs. And that was a critical component to him edging ahead of Walker four weeks ago, and it is what drove his big victory tonight that gives Democrats that 51 seat majority, Kasie.

HUNT: So, David, can I ask you and I realized this is the final race of 2022, but it also kick starts 2024. I mean, we already have at least one announced Republican presidential candidate for 2024.

Obviously, Georgia was a critical state in the 2020 election. I mean, what does this tell you about where Georgia stands in future presidential races? And how much of this do you think is about Donald Trump? And how much of is it -- is it about, you know, fundamental changes in the electorate in Georgia?

CHALIAN: Well, I think it's all of the above, because I think you see, obviously a changing electorate. I mean, you'll remember Kasie, of course, if you go back to 2008 and 2012, the Obama campaign manager David Plouffe always had Georgia on the list of the sort of reach that he believed that Democrats would get to.

We saw Joe Biden flip that state, no doubt that had something to do with Donald Trump as well. And yes, Donald Trump played a role here. But so too did the coalition that Warnock was able to put together here. And when you ask, where does Georgia sit in 2024 presidential politics? It sits right at the center of it.

I mean, this is a purple state that has Republican roots of recent decades, and clearly is going to be a place that both parties heavily invest in to compete in 2024.

HUNT: That's amazing to see how the amounts have changed over the last 20 years. David Chalian, thank you very much, my friend. We really appreciate you being up with us.

And here to talk about the Georgia Senate runoff. We have an incredibly distinguished panel of guests that is joining us for these early morning hours here in the United States.

Paul Begala, a Democratic strategist and CNN Political Commentator. Alice Stewart, a Republican strategist, also a CNN Political Commentator. Laura Barron-Lopez, a White House correspondent for the PBS NewsHour, also one of our CNN Political Analyst. And April Ryan who is a White House correspondent for The Grieux and also a CNN Political Analyst.

Thank you guys so much for being here tonight as we break this down late into the, I guess, early morning hours? It's not necessarily late as we get started here.

But Paul Begala, let me start with you, just because you've been around, you've seen a lot. Georgia is not a state that necessarily was on the map for Democrats when you first got into this business. What did you see tonight as things unfolded here?

PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I want to talk about Georgia in a minute. I'm wearing my Georgia Bulldogs tie. I've lived there and worked there. I love that state.

Thank you for that. Thank you for the tie.

BEGALA: And it is changing, though. But first of all, Reverend Warnock. It's hard to say if the guy has won four races in two years that a star is born, but I thought, not just winning, winning the way he did, with the weight of the world on his shoulders with the hottest spotlight you could have, never a false note in tonight's victory speech.

We're going to talk a lot about Herschel Walker conceding, which is the right thing to do. And I'm proud he did. But oh, my goodness, Reverend Warnock. He didn't gloat. He didn't exude, he didn't over interpret. He wore a purple tie. Just like I'm wearing my Georgia Bulldogs. He wore a purple tie. He talked about bipartisanship. He is -- you could tell that he's a preacher.

ALICE STEWART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Oh, yes. He basically gave a sermon at his victory speech.

(CROSSTALK)

BEGALA: Yes. So, a star is born. People wonder where do the Democrats go after the current generation of leaders? We had -- my party has a lot of talent. And when you have a man who can win an estate where just a few years ago, there were hundreds of dogs, that puts him right at the top of the Democratic Party.

HUNT: You know, it's interesting, Paul and April. I'm really interested in your take on this, too. I mean, there's obviously been a lot of focus on Herschel Walker and all his flaws as a candidate. All true.

But the reality was, it was -- he was a flawed candidate standing up against someone who is incredibly talented with a very bright future. I mean, this was not a generic Democratic candidate in Reverend Warnock.

APRIL RYAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Reverend Warnock is someone again, who has felt the state of Georgia, he understands the state of Georgia being a person from Georgia.

He's also been in Baltimore, he preached in Baltimore as well, he's not all his life lived in Georgia. But he's seen some of the hurt that he is talking about tonight. He's seen people say, look, I need to be seen. And he talked about that.

He also said, the vote, the critical nature of the vote is like a prayer. Yes, he said, because it moves people to think and call for the betterment of this nation.

And column response, and people really resonated with that. And then also, he said, I see you, because part of the problem in Georgia is Paul and I had this conversation before. Paul likes to say, you know, Georgia is changing, it's changing. And we still had Ahmaud Arbery when you talk about gunning down with dogs, we still had that, we still remember Ahmaud Arbery, and we still remember Forsyth County in the 80s when Forsyth had not one black person in that county, and now it's 4.4 percent black.

[00:10:14]

But at the end of the day, Raphael Warnock is a man who wants to connect with the people who says I'm with you, as I will serve you. But juxtapose to what they had, a Republican candidate who was put there, because he was a friend of Donald Trump and was on "The Apprentice" one time, and also an attempt to bring black men into the Republican Party. It failed tonight.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ, CNN POLITICAL ANALYSTS: When I was -- I was just in Georgia last week. And there were a number of black voters that I spoke to who actually said that very thing, April. They said that they felt insulted and they felt as though Republicans were just running a black candidate, and trying to win them over with representation rather than substance (PH). And a lot of them question Walker's experience and felt as though he wasn't experienced enough to be a senator.

On Warnock, those -- that prayer line, as well as a lot of what we heard as well tonight, him talking about voter suppression was a big part of his stump speech throughout the campaign trail. And the fact that he really focused on voting rights and voter suppression, I think was interesting, especially since it was part of his final message heading into the runoff.

HUNT: Yes. Alice Stewart, let me bring you in here, because I do want to make sure that I'm at the top of the hour here, we get to underscore one of the things that Herschel Walker said in his concession speech, which first of all, I think we do need to note his team put out in advance that he was going to concede tonight, he was not going to question the results. This is, of course, a state where Donald Trump aggressively not only question the results, but tried to pressure elections officials into changing results.

And then, Herschel Walker stood up and said believe in the Constitution. This at a time when former President Trump now a contender for the presidency in 2024 is saying that he wants to throw it out because of the massive fraud that was committed.

I think it's fascinating whether, you know, Walker said that off the cuff or whether that was written into his speech, probably more likely, we're trying to report that out right now.

What was your take on how the Walker team handled the final weeks and days of this race and how Walker himself handled the hours in the wake of us calling this race for Reverend Warnock?

STEWART: I will say his speech tonight, I think he was gracious in defeat. I was impressed with how he thanked his team. He thanked his supporters, he thanked his donors. And really, I think he handled it in a very professional way.

And look, acknowledging the fact that, you know, Raphael Warnock was a great candidate. He ran a very disciplined campaign. And so much has been put on Herschel Walker and him being a flawed candidate, which is absolutely true.

But we can't do that do so without also acknowledging the fact that Raphael Warnock was a strong candidate.

HUNT: Agreed.

STEWART: Herschel Walker getting into this race as the appointed candidate of Donald Trump was a fatal flaw, not of his own doing. Donald Trump was nowhere to be seen on the campaign trail. But that was simply a geography issue.

He was all over this race. His fingerprints were on Herschel Walker, his stain was on Herschel Walker throughout this entire race. Donald Trump's influence on races across the country, he's been a huge weight, but it has been an anchor down on all of these candidates. And this was a huge wake up call to Republicans.

I'm hearing from Republicans all night long, this is it. This is the final straw, it's time to move on. We need to turn the page. And these are people from Iowa to Georgia, and right here in Washington D.C. saying that we're tired of losing.

And the fact that Donald Trump appoints his self-appointed candidates to win these primaries. That doesn't help us if we cannot win a general election. And that's -- this is the final straw for many Republicans.

HUNT: Sure. I mean, I guess my question is, is it the final straw though for the base voters because the reality is Republicans in many cases were in this position because they knew that the base was going to go along with whatever Trump wanted. That's how you ended up with people like Blake Masters out in Arizona who lost. That's -- JD Vance won in Ohio. But man, that race was closer than it should have been.

Now, we've got Herschel Walker losing in Georgia, and now you're facing a Republican primary, potentially crowded with, you know, many people you've worked for in the past that potentially clears the way for, you know, these voters who seem to stick with Donald Trump regardless.

I mean, do you see any signs that they are changing their mind after what we've seen?

STEWART: I think we saw evidence of that in Georgia with the governor's race. Brian Kemp won by eight -- by eight points over Stacey Abrams, and he did so by keeping Trump's base on board and broadening the electorate because he focused on the policies of the state of Georgia. He focused on the economy and crime and education and did so with a positive message moving forward.

He was also able to capitalize on his success as a governor, helping the state through COVID, focusing on the economy.

And when we see Republicans like Brian Kemp and Brad Raffensperger, Secretary of State who stood up against Trump, took his wrath and still were able to come out on top. That's a good playbook moving forward.

[00:15:09]

We saw Glenn Youngkin in Virginia, also doing a similar strategy in terms of let's focus on the policies and a positive vision moving forward and not standing -- not standing align with Trump, standing up to Trump. That's where Republicans -- that's the future of the Republican Party, keeping his base on board but broadening the electorate.

HUNT: All right, let's pause for a second. I know I think Paul and April both want to jump in here, but we're going to have everybody back after the break.

Paul Begala, Alice Stewart, Laura Barron-Lopez, April Ryan, but we are going to take a short quick break right now.

When we come back, it is of course a big celebration for Democrats. Our panel will be back to discuss Senator Raphael Warnock's victory in Georgia.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HUNT: Welcome back, U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock celebrating a major win. He's going to keep that title, the final race of the 2022 midterm elections.

[00:20:08]

CNN projects that Warnock will defeat Republican challenger Herschel Walker in this very close runoff election. His victory gives Democrats a 51 to 49 seat majority in the Senate, a pickup of one seat for President Biden's party. It is a critical seat, though.

Warnock thanks for supporters at his campaign headquarters in Atlanta just a few minutes after Walker conceded the race.

We're going to bring back our panel. We've got CNN political commentators, Paul Begala and Alice Stewart, along with CNN political analyst, Laura Barron-Lopez, and April Ryan.

So, let's pick up with where we left off, which was a -- we're trying to -- we're discussing the state of Alice's party. What happens next and how I mean, look, the reality is, you know, I covered the Capitol Hill under Donald Trump for the entirety of his administration. The reality was privately so many Republicans wanted nothing to do with him. They kept insisting privately this was going to be it, this was going to be the end of it. And frankly, it never happened until of course, the voters rejected Him finally in 2020. Now he's refused to accept that.

I mean, Paul Begala, what is the -- if you're a Democrats looking at the campaign landscape here, watching this Republican primary start to take early shape. Yes, you're wondering about President Biden and kind of the future of the Democrats, for sure. But if you're looking at running against that kind of a scenario, how does what's unfolded through the midterms, particularly in Georgia tonight affect your outlook?

BEGALA: I think it's solid evidence that Trump can't lose primary, but he can't win a general election. That's the conundrum that Republicans have because you're talking about his fanatical base.

But both parties need to learn this lesson from Georgia and from the whole cycle, which is persuasion still matters. It's not the -- it's not only the base is stupid. We talk all the time about the Trump base or we're talking about the Democratic base, Reverend Warnock, you heard Chalian, he improved his vote in 145 counties. 100 of them are Republican counties. He reached out and got Republicans over. 140,000 Georgians last month voted Kemp, Warnock. 140,000. Now that's used to, you know, your target, we would have said ticket splitters are extinct.

HUNT: Are gone, right.

BEGALA: So, they're like --

HUNT: There's no such thing as the median voter anymore in the heartland of pollsters.

BEGALA: There is. Scientists, by the way, found a harlequin frog in Ecuador, they thought it was extinct. That's how I feel about these ticket splitters.

(CROSSTALK)

BEGALA: But Democrats learn this too. If the only thing that Democrats talking about as their base, they will not be following the Warnock strategy, which is to reach out to see everyone. He talks about farmers. When was the last time you saw a Democrat talk about farmers on a victory night speech?

RYAN: But farmers is on the -- on the -- on the table right now, as especially in Georgia. You know, a lot of farmers who are having problems financially, especially in the midst of COVID. And then we have the Inflation Act that the president is talking about for distressed farmers, not just for black farmers, for people to be seen. For them to feel like they are heard, their issues are on the table for politician means a lot and character means a lot.

Another Georgia pastor Jamal Bryant from New Birth church said, character is the currency for New Democracy. He texted that to me as he was at the Raphael Warnock acceptance speech.

But at the -- at the end of the day, people want to be seen, politics is not about party. It's not about politics. It's about people. And that's one thing I think politicians in Washington have forgotten.

HUNT: Yes, I mean, call me old fashioned, but I got to tell you the fact that character, I have always been a big believer the character should matter, it's one of the most important things no matter what, you know, your policy beliefs, and I think -- I think it was Scott Jennings, we're going to talk to later on in the hour who was saying that some Republicans were saying to him like, hey, that issue really came through this time.

And Alice, go ahead. STEWART: One of the things we heard tonight from Senator Warnock

about, I hear you and I see you and Donald Trump was able to make that connection with the Republican base as well in 2016 and 2020, giving voice to people across America that felt like no one was speaking up for them. No one's fighting for them.

And one thing, being from Georgia, former governor, former Senator Zell Miller, Democrat, but he was also very moderate. One of the things that he said that has always stood out to me, he said, you want to find middle America, you want to find the average American, they're not on the right, they're not on the left, they're at Kmart. And those are the people that any person running in a general election in the future needs to reach out to the Kmart voters, the Walmart voters, because this extremism on right and left is not the winning formula. It's right down the middle.

BARRON-LOPEZ: Two quick things about the way Warnock was able to really win over those split ticket voters, those Republicans who voted for -- those moderate voters who voted for Kemp and maybe Raffensperger as well, the Secretary of State, and then Warnock. I talked to one when I was in Georgia, and it came down to the fact that Herschel Walker was an election denier in 2020.

[00:25:05]

And they said that I'm sorry, but I can't vote for someone who is not going to stand up for the Constitution. And I know that tonight, Walker said, you need to believe in the Constitution to his supporters.

But in the aftermath of 2020, he was full on Trump's train about lying about the election, saying that there was countrywide wide fraud, and actually was attacking Brian Kemp, the Republican governor in Georgia, as well as the secretary of state.

So, it was interesting to see that Kemp then decided to come out and support Walker after he had been attacked by him in 2020, to try to win over those some 200,000 voters that voted for him and not for Walker. And clearly Walker wasn't able to close that gap. Because on the stump, when you watched his stump speech across the state, it was all red meat. It was all about culture wars, he was very focused on gender identity, very anti-transgender athletes.

And by comparison, we're not talked about voting rights. He talked about expanding Medicaid in Georgia, and he talked about abortion access.

HUNT: Yes, no, I mean, look, I think when you listen to the different ways in which they were campaigning, especially in the final stretch, it really underscores also your point about trying to figure out how to appeal to people who are willing to consider both parties. As few as there may be nowadays. They still do really matter in these very close elections.

All right, Paul Begala, Alice Stewart, Laura Barron-Lopez, April Ryan, you guys are going to stick around with us. We're going to have much more from Georgia later on this hour.

Also ahead, the January 6 committee investigating the attack on the U.S. capital plans to make criminal referrals to the Justice Department. What the chairman says about who is going to be referred.

Plus, guilty on all counts, the Trump Organization found guilty of a 15-year tax fraud scheme, what it might mean for Donald Trump's family business when we return.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: CNN protects incumbent Senator Raphael Warnock will keep his seat in -- in Georgia, his Senate seat. And Democrats will strengthen their grip on that chamber.

[00:31:16]

Warnock was able to net more than half the vote in the runoff, crossing that critical 50 percent threshold that you might remember from the previous race.

But of course, it was a seesaw for much of the might. The lead flipped back and forth between Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker.

The final race of this midterm election cycle, now over. Warnock is set to begin his first full six-year term in the Senate.

We're also tracking major developments in the investigation into the U.S. Capitol riot. The January 6th House Select Committee plans to make criminal referrals to the Justice Department.

The committee's chairman says the panel has not yet narrowed down everyone who would be referred or what charges might be recommended. But the decisions are going to come soon.

Remember, the committee is set to wrap up its probe and publish a final report by the end of the year.

Time is running out. Because Republicans are set to take control of the House and are widely expected to disband the panel.

They lack the power to prosecute themselves, but the Justice Department has launched a parallel probe into the attack.

Last month, former President Donald Trump sued the January 6th panel, claiming that he should be immune from testimony about the time that he was president.

A New York jury, meanwhile, has found two Trump Organization companies guilty of multiple counts of tax fraud. And while the former U.S. president and his family were not charged directly in the case, the verdict could have further impacts on their business.

CNN's Kara Scannell has more from New York.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: After two days of deliberations, a New York jury found two entities of the Trump Organization guilty of a 15-year tax fraud scheme.

SCANNELL (voice-over): The verdict, handed up by a jury of eight men and four women, deals a blow to former President Donald Trump.

Trump was not charged in a legal scheme, but prosecutors told the jury that he explicitly sanctioned some of the tax fraud. The guilty verdict tarnishes the real-estate company he built from the ground up, and comes as Trump is embarking on a second run for the Republican nomination for president in 2024.

Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg said the verdict proved that, in Manhattan, there is one standard of justice.

Over the seven-week trial, the jury heard testimony from Trump's one- time right-hand man, the company's former chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg. Weisselberg, who was on paid leave, pleaded guilty to the tax fraud scheme, and in exchange for a lighter prison sentence, he agreed to testify at the trial.

Weisselberg testified that he and others received off-the-books compensation in the form of perks, apartments, luxury car leases and, for him, private school tuition for his grandchildren.

Prosecutors told the jury the scheme was a win-win for everyone, both the executives and the company, that all paid less in taxes.

The Trump Organization could face a maximum of $1.6 million in fines when it's sentenced next month. Lawyers for the Trump company said that they will appeal.

SCANNELL: Kara Scannell, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNT: Out thanks to Kara for that report.

Joining me to talk more about this from New York, CNN senior political commentator, Scott Jennings. He once served as a special assistant to former President George W. Bush and is a close confidant of the Senate minority leader.

And CNN political commentator Bakari Sellers is with us. He is an attorney and former South Carolina state House Democrat.

Thank you both for being here, tonight.

Scott, let me start with you on this -- this Trump case. I mean, what, if any, impact do you think this ruling has on what Donald Trump's potential future in Republican politics is?

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It's hard to assess what any one thing is going to do. And I just think it is a multitude of things that have happened over the last month that have really eroded, or degraded, his ability to wage this campaign.

His announcement was flat. You've got a number of investigation issues. You've got a number of political issues.

[00:35:05]

I mean, this Georgia situation tonight is a massive blow to him. Georgia may be remembered as the state -- I tweeted this earlier tonight -- that breaks Donald Trump. He lost it in 2020. His candidates that he preferred in the primary lost.

People have stood up to him in Georgia, in the Republican Party and in the Democratic Party and in the suburbs. And everyone else has said no to Donald Trump.

And he's got this investigation going on over his actions after the 2020 election. This may be the state that does it.

So I think it's hard to asses any one thing, Kasie. But if you're looking at what's happened to him since he launched his campaign, it ain't good. That's a political science term, but it ain't good.

HUNT: Very technical, Scott.

Bakari, your -- your home state of South Carolina is setting up to take on a new role in the Democratic primary process. But of course, the Republican situation is likely to be a messy and long one.

And it's going to be impacted by these things that we've just run through. I mean, let's take these issues one at a time. I mean, between the Trump Organization, as we saw today, I mean, what is your take there? I mean, do you agree with Scott? You know, none of this necessarily matters, one -- or one thing at a time.

Or the criminal referral from January 6th to the Department of Justice. We're still waiting on what they're going to do.

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I do agree with Scott somewhat. I think it all matters. And I think that drip by drip, it matters more and more.

And follow me on this, guys. Because I actually think it benefits and helps Donald Trump. And why do I say that? I say that because it's going to embolden so many other people to run for president of the United States and challenge him.

Of course, he just wants to be -- have a coronation in his nomination process. But that doesn't look it's going to be the case. What I believe Scott will tell you, that if there's 15 or 20 people onstage, Donald Trump is more likely, because he still controls anywhere from a quarter to a third of the Republican base. He's more likely to come out of that victorious.

Because what the Republican Party hasn't done, and nobody has talked about this or mentioned this, is they haven't structurally changed their Republican nominating process. As long as states are winner-take-all states and someone can only get

a quarter of the vote, all of these little things -- the January 6th indictments that may or may not come; the prosecution of the Trump businesses; his losses in Georgia -- all that means is that you're going to have all these one-percenters.

And one-percenters, I mean Mike Rogers; I mean Mike Pence; I mean Mike Pompeo. I mean, all of these individuals who can't get more than 1 percent of the electorate, because they don't have a base, are going to all run. But they can't beat Donald Trump, because they refuse to take him on.

So I actually think, drip by drip, each thing that we've seen happen in this puzzle over the past month has done nothing but help Donald Trump.

HUNT: All right, Scott, your name was evoked. Your response?

JENNINGS: Yes, I -- look, I think Bakari's right about the rules. A massive fragmented field does benefit a candidate like Trump.

I think the question is, how long will all these people stay in? I think Bakari's right: some of these folks don't really have much of a chance.

But the question will be, do they stay in the race long enough to fragment the field?

HUNT: Yes.

JENNINGS: Last time around, in 2016, yes, people stayed in way too long. And so it would benefit this thing to winnow down sooner so that you had sort of one strong alternative.

I think if you got it down to that today -- look at some of the national polling that's come out, Kasi. I mean, it's obvious that Republicans --

HUNT: I don't disagree with you -- I don't disagree with you at all on that. And I think we've seen some evidence in the midterm elections that would show that, if they were able to pick someone other than Donald Trump, it's entirely possible they could win a national election.

(AUDIO GAP) Scott Walker, back in 2016, he tried to warn everyone in September, actually, of 2015, that they all needed to clear out, and nobody's ego would allow it.

And I'm not going to lie. I've covered politics long enough to know that, like, the ego that it takes to think you should be president of the United States means, like, these people don't drop out.

JENNINGS: It could be. I hope not. I do think that DeSantis --

HUNT: Have you convinced him yourself? Is Mitch McConnell going to convince him? JENNINGS: Well, I will say that today DeSantis, it strikes me, is a little bit different kind of a candidate then existed in '16. I don't think Trump's ever actually faced another Republican who has the reservoir of support, the deep affection of support, that DeSantis does.

Not just because of what he did as governor. But this crushing victory he scored in Florida, juxtaposed against what looks like a lot of defeats against Trump.

So I do think he's a bit of a stronger player. That's not going to stop others. But it looks to me like he's on a rocket ship right now. And he's still got room to grow.

So you know, we'll see how develops. That's what primaries are for. We'll see if people learn the lessons of the past.

But Trump is there to be beaten. And that's the only way he's going to go away, is for Republicans to beat him in a primary. He ain't going to be hauled off to jail in time. You know, whatever. He's not going to et -- he has to be beaten. He has to be beaten. And a Republican has to do it. That's my view.

HUNT: Bakari, what's -- you get last word here. What's your thoughts?

[00:40:01]

SELLERS: Yes. No, I love when Republicans talk about Ron DeSantis. Because Republicans fail to remember history.

Ron DeSantis is none other than Scott Walker. It's funny you invoked his name. He's somebody who came off a resounding election. At that time, Scott Moore came off beating back a recall.

[00:40:16]

But it's like Icarus. He got too close to the sun, and we know how that -- how that ended up.

Ron DeSantis and no one else. I mean, we talk about all these things, the Constitution, et cetera. What no one else has done is actually throw a first punch at Donald Trump. Or shown they've been able to take one.

And so I don't have faith that Ron DeSantis can do that.

Today was a horrible day for Donald Trump, on all fronts. But he hasn't had a very good in a very long period of time. In fact, until Scott said it, I forgot he actually announced for president of the United States.

Today was a good day, and if we saw anybody, if Joe Biden does not win or does not run for president of the United States, I think you somebody today who could be one of the many people who run in 2024.

HUNT: All right. Bakari Sellers, Scott Jennings, we're going to keep talking about this. But I'm going to let you guys both go to bed. Thank you so much for staying up late with us tonight. We really appreciate it.

SELLERS: We'll be back in the morning. We'll be back in the morning. No worries.

HUNT: We will see you then. All right. Sounds great.

This runoff, of course, has highlighted how Georgia has really become the epicenter of American politics. Once a reliably red state, it now seems to be a true swing state. We're going to talk to Georgia's -- about Georgia's political DNA, coming up next.

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HUNT: Welcome back. Democrat -- Democratic U.S. Senator, Raphael Warnock, has beaten the Trump-backed Republican, Herschel Walker, in the Georgia Senate runoff.

And during his victory speech, Warnock said, quote, "After a hard- fought campaign, you've got me for six more years." Walker conceded almost immediately, remarkably, telling his supporters to never stop dreaming or believing in America and its elected officials.

Let's get analysis from someone who is on the ground in Georgia. I'm joined with Tia Mitchell. She is the Washington correspondent for "The Atlanta Journal-Constitution," an excellent paper. She joins me from Atlanta.

Tia, you have covered the ins and outs of this race for a very, very long time now. We knew this was going to be, really, the center of the battle for the Senate. Honestly, the fact that it was for the 51st seat and not the 50th, was in some ways, pretty remarkable here.

But I will say, because all the sources that I've talked to, none of them were surprised by the fact that Warnock was able to pull this out.

I'm interested to know what you are hearing from your sources and what they're telling you tonight about what this all means?

TIA MITCHELL, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we knew that Warnock's team came into election day very confident. They felt they built up a big lead during early voting.

And then, once the polls closed and results started trickling in, t became clear pretty quickly that there just weren't enough votes out there for Herschel Walker to win this race.

The bigger counties -- DeKalb, Fulton, Cobb and Gwinnett -- as -- you know, because for a while, it was kind of 50/50. And Herschel Walker at times would be slightly ahead. But when we looked at the counties that still had the most counting to

do, these are counties that were going for Warnock 80 percent, 75 percent. And so it just became clear that the math was not in Herschel Walker's favor.

I think that the people who support Raphael Warnock, that's what they thought was going to happen.

But, at the same time, they were cautiously optimistic. They said they didn't want to count their chickens before all the eggs had hatched, because anything could happen, if election day had been strong for Herschel Walker.

HUNT: Sure. So Tia, let me ask you. You mentioned voting. And that, of course, in so many ways has become a central theme in our politics.

Generally, whether it's the questioning of elections, election fraud, to questions about voter suppression, to in Georgia, in particular, that early voting was so important here.

And one of the things that I've heard from Republicans is that they're very frustrated with the fact that their voters don't seem to trust early voting as part of the process and that it really, really hurt them.

What does your reporting tell you about the impact on the results here from the willingness, or lack thereof, of Republicans to vote early?

MITCHELL: Yes. I mean, I think that's truly something that the Republican Party is grappling with. But that's a problem that Republicans brought onto themselves. And you know, not all Republicans.

But we know that, particularly in 2020, there became this shift to once prioritizing election day voting. There was all these criticism from Republicans, particularly allies of President Donald Trump, that began to criticize voting by mail; criticizing the use of drop boxes; criticizing different ways during the pandemic that a lot of municipalities made voting easier for everyone.

And so, Republicans, in criticizing that, kind of turned off a lot of their voters to make it seem like some of those methods weren't solid, or weren't reliable.

But what we're seeing now is that Republicans, now, aren't reaping the benefits the way Democrats are, again, about ways to vote that are very popular for people.

I think, also, in Georgia, when Republicans said that that Saturday after Thanksgiving, it would not be available for early voting. And we know Warnock's campaign, the Democratic Party, sued and they won. Not only did that provide another day of early voting in counties that decided to opt in, but it become another rallying cry for Democrats.

You know, Democrats were able to say, this is an example of Republicans making it harder to vote, suppressing the vote. This became something that we heard from Warnock on the campaign stage in the closing weeks of the runoff.

And it was a powerful message. I think it paid off. In a lot of counties, Warnock performed better than he did in November.

HUNT: Yes. Pretty remarkable.

All right. Tia Mitchell, thank you very much for staying up late with us. Your reporting on this race has been stellar throughout. So thank you very much for being with us.

And I will be back with much more on the Georgia Senate runoff at the top of the hour with our all-star panel, but, first John Vause picks up our top international headlines after the break.

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JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Welcome back, everyone. I'm John Vause. Our coverage of the Georgia Senate runoff election continues in a moment. But first, the latest on the war in Ukraine.

And just as Ukraine appears to have developed a long-range attack drone, it seems Russia has exhausted its supply of Iranian-made combat drones.

[00:55:05]

In the early morning hours Tuesday, thick black smoke could be seen above a Russian airfield about 60 miles from the Ukrainian border. Russia officials say a drone strike set fuel storage tanks on fire.

Officially, there was no comment from Ukraine, but this would appear to be the third attack in two days of military bases inside Russia.

These drone strikes on Russian soil come amid a monthslong Russian air offensive on Ukraine's power grid, which has called widespread blackouts.

During a press briefing Tuesday, the U.S. secretary of state was asked if the Ukrainian strikes were morally justified.

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ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We have neither encouraged, nor enabled, the Ukrainians to strike inside of Russia.

But the important thing is to understand what Ukrainians are living through every day with the ongoing Russian aggression against their country, and our determination to make sure that they have in their hands, along with many other partners around the world, the equipment that they need to defend themselves, to defend their territory, to defend the freedom.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: In what appears to be yet another setback for Moscow, as Western officials say Russia has exhausted its supply of Iranian-made attack drones.

Officials in Washington and Kyiv have noted the Shaheed 1 through 6, in particular, has not been used by the Russians for the past two weeks.

A lawsuit against the Saudi crown prince for his role on the murder of "Washington Post" journalist Jamal Khashoggi, has been thrown out of court by a U.S. federal judge.

While the ruling noted credible allegations of Mohammad Bin Salman's involvement in the killing of Khashoggi, the decision to dismiss was based on Biden administration's early recommendation of immunity as head of state.

Bin Salmon was appointed prime minister by his father in September. The judge expressed his uneasiness, noting the suspicious timing of the prince's appointment.

The lawsuit was bought by Khashoggi's fiancee and a human rights organization Khashoggi founded before his death in 2018.

I'm John Vause, live at the CNN Center. Kasie in D.C.

We're back with more of our special election coverage right after this.

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