At the moment, there are 50 seats in the United States Senate that are occupied by members of the Republican party. The Democrats have 48 seats, and they also more or less control the two independent members. That brings things dead even, except that Vice-President Kamala Harris has a tie-breaking vote, meaning that the GOP has to gain at least one seat in the 2002 elections to assume control.

And there have been high hopes that the candidate who could swing things back the GOP’s way was Herschel Walker, a Heisman Trophy winner from the University of Georgia who decided to challenge incumbent US Senator Raphael Warnock, who had beaten Kelly Loeffler in a special election two years ago that was marked by a lot of nastiness, including the full participation and protest by the WNBA Players Association, which we might add eventually led to plenty of ill feeling on the part of conservatives toward Brittney Griner, a vocal member of that group who now languishes in a Russian jail.

Can Walker, a hero throughout the state, break through and give the Republicans an advantage again in the Peach State? At BetOnline, he is the favorite to win Tuesday’s election, but is by no means a solid favorite:

Herschel Walker (R) -165
Raphael Warnock (D) +125

This race could hardly be closer. An Emerson College poll had Warnock with a 49-47 edge. The Marist College poll had it dead even at 48 points apiece, so it is truly up for grabs.

And by the way, if neither candidate gets a majority, that creates a runoff election on December 6.

Warnock was a pastor at Martin Luther King Jr.’s Ebenezer Baptist Church. But Walker is the candidate who has tried to take the moral high road. He presented himself as a staunch opponent of abortion, yet two women have stepped forward who have claimed that Walker impregnated them, then paid for their abortions. There have been other controversies, including one where it was revealed that Walker had four children, though he only claimed three.

It has certainly not helped Walker that Donald Trump, for whom he played with the New Jersey Generals in the old USFL, has been an unwavering supporter. The left-leaning media has been relentless in its efforts to discredit the former Georgia running back and ignore any and all skeletons in Warnock’s closet.

Some of the statements Walker has made about his opponent have smacked of eccentricity and / or exaggeration. For instance, he has claimed that Warnock “wants to abolish the family. He wants to abolish the police. He wants to abolish the court system. He wants to abolish this United States of America.”

Some Georgia Republicans, who may not be fans of Warnock, have expressed that they would love to support the GOP, but that Walker may not be the most appropriate or prepared candidate.

If you want to take a look at the odds on total Republican seats when the dust clears, it appears that even if Walker doesn’t win, the tide may shift somewhere else:

50-52 Inclusive +105
53 or More +110
Under 50 +500

If things don’t go completely as planned for the GOP, particularly with a contentious race between Mehmet Oz and John Fetterman in Pennsylvania (where Oz is a -175 favorite), we may not know the definitive answer until December.

If there’s any p;lace that has you covered when it comes to the 2022 elections, it’s BetOnline, where you can place a wager on just about every significant race. Oh yeah, lots of Donald Trump betting too!……. It’s easy to get an account opened – just use your credit card, or any cryptocurrency you can imagine. Yes, it’s EASY!