Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp urges voters to turn out for Herschel Walker in Tuesday’s runoff election

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) on Tuesday urged voters to turn out and support Republican Senate nominee Herschel Walker, revealing that he voted for Walker earlier that morning.

“Hey Georgia, it’s Election Day. Today your vote is going to decide who’s going to be in the United States Senate for the next six years,” Kemp said in a 40-second message posted to Twitter. “Do you want to send somebody back that’s voted with Joe Biden 96% of the time? Or do you want to send somebody who’s going to fight to end 40-year high inflation, to lower gas prices, secure our southern border and cut your taxes versus raising them?

Polls opened Tuesday morning in the runoff election between Walker, a former NFL star, and Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., a minister vying for his first full term in the United States Senate. Neither candidate managed to win a majority of the vote in the Nov. 8 general election, which triggered the runoff. Kemp, who handily won re-election last month and out-performed Walker by roughly 200,000 votes on Election Day, said Republicans need a “big turnout today to win this thing.”

“That’s why I voted for Herschel Walker,” he said. “I want to encourage you to do the same. We got to have a big turnout today to win this thing. Let’s get it done and send someone like Herschel to the United States Senate that is going to fight for us.”

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Control of the Senate is not in question, but Tuesday’s contest remains high stakes for Democrats, who are looking to establish a 51-seat majority. Under the current 50-50 Senate, Democrats have been forced to water down major pieces of President Biden’s legislative agenda as moderates like Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., have threatened to tank bills with a single vote when Republicans were united in opposition.

“What’s the difference between 50 and 51? The answer is a lot,” former President Barack Obama told Warnock supporters at a campaign rally last week. “Let me break it down for you. An extra senator gives Democrats more breathing room on important bills. It prevents one person from holding out everything.”

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“It also puts us in a better position a couple of years from now when you’ve got another election. But then the Senate map is going to be tilted in favor of Republicans and it’ll help prevent them from getting a filibuster-proof majority,” Obama added.

The high-profile race has attracted record turnout among Georgia voters, with nearly two million early vote ballots already cast as of Friday, according to state officials. Buoyed by tight public polling and reports that show high turnout in blue counties and congressional districts, Democrats are cautiously optimistic that Warnock will prevail.

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“I’m heartened by the turnout we’ve seen. But we remain focused. We need people to show up tomorrow,” Warnock said on Monday.

“We cannot let our foot off the gas. We got to press all the way through the finish line. We got to run through the tape. So, if you haven’t already voted, tomorrow is the last opportunity to vote,” he told supporters while campaigning in the Atlanta area.

Walker, meanwhile, has toured conservative northern Georgia, urging his supporters to show up at the ballot box.

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“Everyone who hasn’t voted, get out on Dec. 6 and vote,” Walker urged in an interview on the Fox News Channel on Sunday. “If you want a change, go out and vote and vote your opinion because this race is very, very, important.”

Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.