Updated December 6, 2022 at 10:37 PM ET

Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock has defeated Republican Herschel Walker in Georgia's Senate runoff race. The win gives Democrats a 51-49 Senate majority.

The extra cushion of winning in Georgia means control of Senate committees and more leeway in tight votes.

The runoff triggered when neither Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock nor his scandal-plagued Republican challenger, Herschel Walker, received at least 50% of the vote in the general election in November.

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The race has been almost as much about the biographies of these two candidates as the policy positions they support.

Walker has leaned into his status as one of the University of Georgia's most revered players to deflect one controversy after another, including allegations of domestic abuse and claims that he paid for ex-girlfriends' abortions despite his anti-abortion stance as a candidate. He denies those claims.

Herschel Walker, Republican candidate for U.S. Senate for Georgia, left, and incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock.

Herschel Walker, Republican candidate for U.S. Senate for Georgia, left, and incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock. / AP

Warnock is senior pastor at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s church in Atlanta, and talks a lot about how King shaped his outlook and his approach to serving in the Senate.

These two unique candidates each represent two very different and central institutions in the state.

With just four short weeks to get Georgians voting again, there was a rush of spending on TV ads, with some $79 million poured into buying airtime. Spending by groups supporting Warnock has more than doubled contributions from groups backing Walker, according to data from the ad-tracking firm AdImpact and analyzed by NPR.

Information for voters: WABE Atlanta's Voter Hub, Georgia Public Broadcasting's Voting FAQ

Click these links for results for the state's notable attorney general and secretary of state races.

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