'The state that broke Trump once and for all': GOP turns to blaming ... trends now

Republicans appear to be turning on Donald Trump after his endorsed candidate failed to unseat Democrat Sen. Raphael Warnock in Georgia on Tuesday night, thereby solidifying the left's hold on the Senate for the next two years.

Warnock, who was seeking his first full term after winning a special election in January 2021 against a Trump-aligned GOP senator, defeated former NFL star Herschel Walker to give his party 51 seats in next year's chamber.

Walker is a close personal friend of Trump's, but in the end he could not overcome the slew of allegations of domestic abuse and coerced abortions, nor could he match Warnock's ease at the microphone after years of leading an Atlanta Baptist congregation.

'Georgia may be remembered as the state that broke Trump once and for all,' former George W. Bush aide Scott Jennings wrote on Twitter Tuesday night.

Trump infamously lost the Peach State to President Joe Biden by less than one point.

His subsequent claims of election fraud were blamed for deflating Republican voter turnout in the state's two Senate runoff elections in January 2021 - two seats that were critical for Democrats to reclaim the majority.

And his attempted primary takedown of Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who Trump targeted for asserting the state's 2020 election was fair, similarly sputtered earlier this year. 

Some have said the ex-president is not a good judge of candidate quality - which Republican operatives also seem to hold him responsible for.

'There was no Herschel candidacy until Trump opened his mouth,' ex-Georgia GOP Chair John Watson told Politico. 

There's now 'a whole lot of pissed off Georgia Republicans,' he said.

The Democrats have won a true majority in the Senate after Warnock beat the Trump-backed football star.

The result is a major boon for Joe Biden who has overseen a rare midterm gain for a sitting president, going from 50-50 control of the Senate to an absolute majority in the chamber, with 51 seats to the Republicans' 49.

That means Democrats will have majorities on Senate committees - rather than the current even split under their power sharing agreement with the GOP - giving Biden nominees a smoother confirmation process.

The race caps a horror midterm season for the GOP after the predicted 'red tsunami' failed to materialize, with Trump blasting on Truth Social after the result was called: 'OUR COUNTRY IS IN BIG TROUBLE. WHAT A MESS!'

Walker, a Heisman Trophy-winning NFL star, is the latest in a slew of candidates endorsed by the former president who suffered embarrassing defeats in this year's votes.

With Walker's win cushioning the Democrat majority in the upper chamber, Biden's party now has decisive control over all committees, diminishing the influence of any dissenting lawmaker who breaks rank.

The runoff was called by the Associated Press just before 10.30pm Tuesday. 

Around 11pm, Walker appeared onstage at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta and conceded the race, encouraging his supporters not to be disheartened by the result - and to keep voting and supporting the Constitution. 

'There's no excuses in life, and I'm not going to make excuses now because we put up one heck of a fight,' he said. 

Walker also told supporters 'we're all winners' and 'God is good' and thanked his daughters. 

Son Christian went on a diatribe shortly after the race was called for his father's opponent. 

'Don't beat women, hold guns to people's heads, fund abortions then pretend your pro-life, stalk cheerleaders, leave your multiple minor children alone to chase more fame, lie, lie, lie, say stupid crap, and make a fool of your family,' Christian Walker tweeted. 'And then maybe you can win a senate seat.' 

Warnock's win means the Democrats will have an outright majority in the U.S. Senate and will no longer need Vice President Kamala Harris to cast tie-breaking votes. They'll also have a majority on committees, making it easier to push legislation through. 

Warnock took the stage at his Atlanta headquarters shortly after Walker's concession speech and used the remarks to push that voter suppression in Georgia is still happening despite the Democrat's win. 

'Let me be clear: Just because people endured long lines that wrapped around buildings, some blocks long, just beause they endured the rain and the cold and all kinds of tricks in order to vote doesn't mean that voter suppression does not exist,' Warnock said. 'It simply means that you the people have decided that your voices will not be silenced.' 

Warnock slammed Republican election officials who had argued there could be no early voting on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, due to a state law that forbid it if a state holiday took place the Thursday or Friday before. 

'State officials said that we couldn't vote on Saturday, but we sued them and we won,' Warnock said to cheers. 'And the people once again rose up in a multi-racial, multi-religious coalition of conscience. You endured the rain, you endured the long lines and you voted.'  

Walker, a Georgia football Heisman winner and ex-NFL player, was handpicked by former President Donald Trump to run against Warnock in a state where Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who split with Trump over the ex-president's false 2020 fraud claims, easily won reelection over a national Democratic figure, Stacey Abrams. 

Walker's loss signals yet another sign of Trump's diminished clout with the American electorate. 

Neither Trump nor President Joe Biden hit the campaign trail in Georgia in the month between the November general election and the runoff race. 

Biden spent Georgia's election day in Arizona and expressed confidence that Warnock would prevail as he landed at Joint Base Andrews around 10 p.m. Tuesday night.  

'We're going to win. We're going to win Georgia,' the president said. 

Later, Biden tweeted that he had called Warnock to wish him congratulations.  

'Tonight Georgia voters stood up for our democracy, rejected Ultra MAGAism, and most importantly: sent a good man back to the Senate,' Biden wrote 'Here's to six more years.'