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SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker on Friday repudiated his previous support for a full national abortion ban, making a reversal in his only debate against Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock.
Walker, a staunch anti-abortion politician recently accused by a former girlfriend of encouraging and paying for her abortion in 2009, accused Warnock of misrepresenting his position by saying Walker supported a national abortion ban without exceptions.
Walker insisted his position was the same as Georgia’s state law, the so-called heartbeat bill, which bans abortions six weeks before many women know they are pregnant.
But Walker has insisted at various times during the campaign that he supports a national abortion ban, with no exceptions. “It’s a problem” that there isn’t a national ban, he said on the campaign trail in July.
But on the debate stage, Walker tried to shift the issue to Warnock. Walker criticized Warnock for being a Baptist minister who supports abortion rights.
“On abortion, you know, I’m a Christian. I believe in life. … I will be a pro-life senator,” Walker said, later suggesting that Warnock did not care about abortion in the black community. They are both black.
“Instead of aborting these babies, why don’t you baptize them?” Walker asked.
Warnock insisted he could support abortion rights as a Christian and as a pastor. “God gave us a choice and I respect women’s right to make a decision. These are medical decisions, they are deeply personal,” Warnock said, adding that Walker “wants to appropriate more power to politicians than God has.”
The debate in Georgia’s marquee Senate race took place just days before in-person early voting began Monday. The outcome will help determine which party will control the Senate for the next two years of President Joe Biden’s term.
The matchup forces both men to respond to attacks — personal and political — that have flooded voters’ TV screens and social media feeds for months.
Warnock and fellow Georgia Democrat Jon Ossoff won their Senate seats in a January 2021 special election, two months after Biden won Georgia by less than 12,000 votes out of 5 million voters. It was the first time in two decades that Democrats won a federal election in the historically conservative state, raising questions about whether Warnock could repeat his victory in a midterm election, especially amid Biden’s declining popularity among Georgia voters.
Walker has seized on this landscape, caricaturing Warnock as a rubber stamp for the administration. Warnock’s response was to highlight legislative achievements in Washington, focusing on provisions he sponsored capping insulin and other health care costs for Medicare recipients, the Democratic extension of the child tax credit, and infrastructure provisions Warnock spearheaded with colleagues from the Republican Party.
A key variable in the debate is how aggressively Warnock chooses to attack Walker directly on various allegations and revelations that have emerged during the campaign. The senator generally did not follow through on his broad claim that Walker was ill-prepared for the job. But the debate’s moderators put the men in direct conflict over everything from their economic policies to their relationships with their children and families.
Recent reports from The Daily Beast uncovered records of an abortion receipt and a subsequent personal check from Walker to a woman who said the celebrity soccer icon paid for her abortion when they were dating. Walker continued to deny the reports even after the woman identified herself as the mother of one of his four children.
Other reports, including from the Associated Press, have detailed how Walker exaggerated his academic achievements, business success and philanthropic activities, as well as allegations that he threatened his ex-wife’s life, which go beyond the details Walker himself acknowledged in a 2008 memoir .and subsequent media interviews. Walker also publicly acknowledged three of her children for the first time only after an earlier report by the Daily Beast. Before his Senate bid, he had spoken publicly only about Christian Walker, his grown son from his first wife.
Walker, as is typical of challengers running against incumbents, appeared much more eager to go after Warnock directly even before the debate. Referring to Warnock’s financial disclosures in the Senate, Walker accused Warnock of using the Senate to enrich himself. Warnock reported income from a book deal after his election to the Senate. He also reported a monthly housing allowance from Ebenezer Baptist Church of more than $7,000, an arrangement that allows Warnock to continue receiving a substantial annual amount from the church for his role as senior pastor without violating federal ethics rules. limiting the outside income of senators.
Meanwhile, national Republicans recently aired ads highlighting Warnock’s private life. One ad mentions an incident in March 2020 in which Warnock’s then-wife, Ulee Ndoye, told police he ran over her leg with his vehicle. Police records show officers found no evidence Warnock did it. The couple divorced before Warnock was elected to the Senate; they share two young children.
Walker himself has avoided attacks on Warnock’s family life, though earlier this week he campaigned with Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, who chairs the Senate GOP campaign branch that paid for some of those ads.
The Savannah debate was the only meeting between the two rivals because Walker refused to accept the three fall debates typical of Georgia campaigns. Warnock accepted this set of proposed debates in June, only to have Walker push back and oppose Friday’s debate. Friday’s debate did not include Libertarian Chase Oliver, who fell short of organizers’ electoral threshold.
Only one of those original three debates has yet been scheduled: Warnock will meet with Oliver in a Sunday session sponsored by the Atlanta Press Club. In this debate, Walker will be represented from an empty podium because he declined the invitation.
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Barrow reported from Atlanta.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or distributed without permission.
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