ATLANTA — In their second face-to-face run for Georgia governor, Republican Brian Kemp again defeated Democrat Stacey Abrams— this time by a much larger margin.

And while voters showed up in numbers to support Kemp, Republican Herschel Walker did not receive the same support in Georgia’s U.S. Senate race and is headed into a runoff with Democrat incumbent Raphael Warnock.

In 2018, when Abrams and Kemp first squared off, Kemp defeated Abrams by just 55,000 votes. This go round, Kemp holds a nearly 9-point lead over Abrams by about 300,000 votes (nearly 54%). Abrams, who had an estimated 1.8 million, or nearly 46% of votes, reportedly called Kemp to concede just after 11 p.m. Wednesday.

In the U.S. Senate race, Georgia was one of 11 key battleground states that could determine which party will control the U.S. Senate.

Libertarian candidate Chase Oliver pushed the two headline contenders, Walker and Warnock, to a runoff.

Warnock secured 1,941,763 votes, or 49.42%, ahead of Walker’s 1,906,320, or 48.52%, according to the Georgia Secretary of State website Thursday.

With neither candidate securing the necessary 50% plus one vote, they will face each other in a runoff election Dec. 6.

Walker also received significantly less Republican support than Kemp.

Despite being vocal about his support of a total abortion ban in the U.S. and recent allegations that Walker paid for two women to have abortions do not appear to have had a major impact on his overall support in the election.

On the campaign trail, Walker frequently linked Warnock to his support of the Biden agenda and blamed Warnock for inflation and high gas prices.

Warnock won the U.S. Senate seat, traditionally held by Republicans, in a January 2021 runoff to fill the unexpired term of Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson, who retired in 2019 due to health challenges. Warnock has said Walker is unfit for the position, referencing false claims made by Walker including claims he’s worked in law enforcement and his history of domestic violence.

In North Georgia, controversial Republican firebrand U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene defeated Democrat Marcus Flowers to win reelection in Georgia’s 14th Congressional District.

Georgia’s midterm election saw record turnout among its more than 6.9 million registered voters.

Nearly 2.29 million cast a ballot during the three weeks of early voting. Early in-person voting during the 2018 midterm saw 1.89 ballots cast.

Prior to the passage of Georgia’s new voting laws in 2021, 2.6 million voters cast a ballot early in person during the general election/presidential election, which typically draws larger turnout.