Josh Kraushaar | Dec. 2nd, 2008 Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss won a resounding victory over Democrat Jim Martin in the Georgia Senate runoff Tuesday, capturing a second term and ending Democratic hopes of gaining a 60-seat filibuster-proof Senate majority.
Chambliss defeated Martin by 16 percentage points, 58 to 42 percent, with 93 percent of precincts reporting. Turnout was moderate across the state– estimated to be around 30-35 percent – a development that unexpectedly played to Chambliss’ advantage.
In the battle to get out the vote, Republicans won decisively. GOP turnout in the party's metropolitan Atlanta suburban strongholds surged for Chambliss, while African-American turnout dropped off significantly from the levels attained in the November election.
The runoff was necessitated after Chambliss came up about 9,000 votes short of the 50 percent threshold necessary to win the seat outright on Election Night.
In his victory speech, Chambliss said his re-election was a triumph of conservative principles.
