ATLANTA – Republican U.S. Senate nominee Herschel Walker, a staunch opponent of abortion, is denying a media report that he paid for an abortion for a girlfriend in 2009.
But his son reacted to Walker’s response to the story The Daily Beast posted on its website Monday by calling his father on Twitter a liar and hypocrite.
The elder Walker told FOX News host Sean Hannity Monday night the story is “a flat-out lie” concocted by supporters of incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga.
“They’ll do anything to win this seat,” Walker said. “They want to make it about everything else except the true problems we have in this country: inflation, the border wide open, crime. They don’t want to talk about that, so they’re making up lies.”
Walker is vowing to sue The Daily Beast for defamation.
Meanwhile, his 24-year-old son, Christian Walker, criticized his father on Twitter after The Daily Beast posted the abortion story. The younger Walker said he has been mostly absent from the campaign trail because his father has not owned up to his past.
“I did one event last year when we were told he was going to get ahead of his past and hold himself accountable,” Christian Walker said. “That never happened.”
Warnock’s campaign has been running ads featuring Herschel Walker’s ex-wife, Cindy Grossman, describing how he held a gun to her head.
Walker has said he is accountable for his past violent behavior but that he was struggling with dissociative identity disorder at the time, a mental illness about which he later wrote a book.
The younger Walker, who has gained a reputation as a conservative influencer, said the family tried to talk Herschel Walker out of running for the Senate because of his violent past.
Christian Walker took his father to task for posing in campaign ads as a “family man.”
“You don’t get to pretend you’re some moral family guy,” the younger Walker said. “Talk policy. Do not lie.”
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation
ATLANTA – Republican Gov. Brian Kemp has opened a seven-point lead on Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams, while U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., is tied with GOP challenger Herschel Walker, according to a new poll.
The survey, conducted by the progressive think tank and polling firm Data for Progress, shows Kemp leading Abrams 51% to 44% in their second race for governor. Kemp narrowly defeated Abrams in 2018.
Warnock, who is running for a first full term in the Senate, and Walker, the University of Georgia football icon, each polled 46% of the vote.
In both races, a Libertarian candidate is polling in the single digits.
The poll also found President Joe Biden well underwater with Georgia voters. The Democrat is viewed favorably by 42% of voters surveyed, while 57% hold an unfavorable view of the president.
Former President Donald Trump did somewhat better, with a 47% favorable rating and 51% viewing the Republican unfavorably.
Just more than half of those surveyed – 51% – said their biggest concern heading into the November elections is addressing economic ills including inflation. Well below the economy were the 17% of voters who said they were most concerned that the Democratic Party is moving too far left.
Next on the priority list came the need to protect access to legal and safe abortions, the most important issue for 16% of voters surveyed. Another 14% said they’re most concerned that the Republican Party is moving too far right.
Data for Progress interviewed 1,006 likely Georgia voters between Sept. 16 and Sept. 20. The sample was weighted to be representative of likely voters by age, gender, education, race, geography, and voting history.
The poll had a margin of error of plus-or-minus 3%.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – After weeks of back-and-forth political posturing, Georgia’s U.S. Senate candidates have agreed to a televised debate.
U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., and Republican challenger Herschel Walker will meet Oct. 14 in Savannah.
After the two sides agreed to the debate late Tuesday, Warnock upped the ante by inviting Walker to at least one additional debate in Macon or Atlanta.
“Reverend Warnock is eager to speak to Georgians about his work on their behalf and remains hopeful Herschel Walker will do right by Georgians, get on a debate stage at least one other time … and explain his positions to them,” said Quentin Fulks, Warnock’s campaign manager.
“I’m glad to see that Raphael Warnock has agreed to face the voters,” Walker countered. “I’m looking forward to October 14th so the voters can see the contrast between us.”
Georgia Public Broadcasting has scheduled a Senate debate Oct. 16 at its Midtown Atlanta studios.
But Walker has balked at such a studio debate for weeks, insisting that the debate be held before a live audience, raising the possibility that Warnock could end up on the stage with an empty podium.
The Savannah debate will be hosted by WSAV-TV and shown on other stations across Georgia.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Fellow Republicans are going after GOP U.S. Senate candidate Herschel Walker.
A political action committee started by Republicans opposed to former President Donald Trump launched a $1 million ad campaign Monday targeting the former University of Georgia football great.
The 30-second ad funded by the Republican Accountability PAC features Walker’s ex-wife, Cindy DeAngelis Grossman, describing how Walker tried to choke her and held a gun to her head.
“Character matters,” the ad concludes.
Allegations of domestic violence committed by Walker have been campaign fodder since he entered the race against Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock nearly a year ago.
Walker addressed the allegations last December, telling Axios he is accountable for everything he has ever done and speaking frankly about his past mental health struggles.
The ad targeting Walker is part of a $10 million campaign by the Republican Accountability PAC aimed at GOP candidates supported by Trump in several battleground states. That includes Pennsylvania, where the group is running ads targeting Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano.
The anti-Walker ad will air on MSNBC, FOX, and CNN in the Atlanta market as well as major TV stations across Georgia.
“Herschel Walker might have been a great football player, but he clearly doesn’t deserve to be a senator,” said Sarah Longwell, the PAC’s treasurer.
The Walker campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the ad.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Republican U.S. Senate candidate Herschel Walker has agreed to debate incumbent Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock Oct. 14 in Savannah.
For weeks, Warnock has been criticizing Walker for not agreeing to a specific schedule of debates. Walker has responded by saying said he would be ready to debate his opponent but only under “fair and equitable” terms.
The one-hour Savannah debate will take place before a live audience of about 500.
“I’m not going to obey the demands of the elite press and the liberal establishment to stand in an empty room for a debate that is supposed to be about the people,” Walker said in a video statement released Tuesday night.
“I accepted a debate that’s about the voters. I’m leaving the media elite behind and taking my message right to the people.”
Warnock campaign manager Quentin Fulks said the senator would like to see more than one debate.
“Two months ago, Reverend Warnock accepted invitations to three well-established Georgia debates in Atlanta, Savannah, and Macon to be broadcast statewide, after Herschel Walker said he would debate Reverend Warnock anywhere, anytime,” Fulks said.
“Nothing has changed. Reverend Warnock remains committed to debating Herschel Walker and giving Georgians three opportunities to see the clear choice about who is ready to represent Georgia.”
If only the Oct. 14 debate takes place, it would be in a Republican-friendly area of the state and away from metro Atlanta, which Warnock dominated on the way to his election victory in January of last year. However, Savannah also is Warnock’s hometown.
The Savannah debate will be televised by Fox 5 Atlanta, the Nexstar Media Group markets serving Georgia in Augusta, Savannah, Columbus, Spartanburg, S.C., and Dothan, Ala. It also will air on the Sinclair-owned stations in Macon and Albany.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
