A lot of people here are talking about Warnock's victory single-handedly dispelling the idea that "defund the police" rhetoric hurt Democrats down ballot in November.

Since I am one of the people whose reporting pointed in this direction, I want to share a couple of points:

Warnock not only ran against "defund the police" -- he accused Loeffler of wanting to defund the police, a similar tactic employed by Biden: https://www.rollcall.com/2020/12/07/georgia-senate-race-warnock-says-loeffler-voted-to-defund-police-but-proof-comes-up-short/

Warnock also ran ads with cops rebutting claims he was anti-police: https://twitter.com/JacobRubashkin/status/1330283159880146944 (h/t @lhfang)

Of course, the contention from moderates was always that the antiracism movement's rhetoric hurt Democrats even when they didn't adopt said rhetoric ...

That's true, but there were definitely cases where the charges/smears stuck more because of mistakes that candidates made suggesting they endorsed the "defund" language. I underscored that issue in Cameron Webb's race in Virginia: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/republicans-defund-the-police-attacks-democrats-election-2020_n_5fb68698c5b695be83008c57

I also noted that kind of error in my writeup of Amy Kennedy's loss to Jeff Van Drew in New Jersey: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jeff-van-drew-defeats-amy-kennedy-new-jersey-election-2020_n_5fa1a598c5b6128c6b5d1daa

Kara Eastman had her own policing-related political dustup when she broke with the Democratic prosecutor over a white bar owner's killing of an alleged Black looter: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/kara-eastman-loss-progressives-republican-house-seat-nebraska_n_5fd507e5c5b663c37596ff87

Eastman did not ever go on TV to refute charges that she wanted to defund the police.

Webb and Max Rose did and still lost.

But Lamb, Cartwright and Golden all used those kinds of ads to great effect.

It's not 100% clear what exact elements allowed these attacks to land and which did not, but it certainly looks like a candidate's record and handling of the attacks *can* play a role in mitigating the attacks' effectiveness, especially given other favorable factors ...

... Every race is unique and candidate responses *can* matter.

Warnock winning -- with myriad strengths, including his response to "defund" charges, and a weak opponent -- doesn't decisively refute that "defund" rhetoric is a political loser for Democrats.

One other point: Republicans just did not run against The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act or the BLM movement or police reforms write large in the same way they hyped up the riots and "defund." So the idea that it's all or nothing is not true.