Candidates make last-day appeals to Georgia voters

A day before the Nov. 8 midterm election, Georgia candidates are making last-day appeals in races for governor and senator, including Gov. Brian Kemp (top right) and Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock (top left) leading their challengers Stacey Abrams (bottom right) and Herschel Walker (bottom left). (Brynn Anderson/Megan Varner/AP Photos)

 Georgia candidates sought to eke out more votes Monday, making last-day appeals in races for governor and senator after 2.5 million ballots were cast early and hundreds of millions of dollars were spent to influence voters.

With total turnout that could exceed 4.5 million by the end of Tuesday’s election, there were still voters to persuade.

The race between Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker will help determine which party controls a Senate now divided 50-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris giving Democrats the tie-breaking vote. And incumbent Republican Gov. Brian Kemp is again trying to defeat Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams in a race that has underlined their sharply contrasting philosophies of how Georgia should be governed.