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SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker will meet Friday night for their only debate in the Georgia Senate race, just days before in-person early voting begins.
The 60-minute session, which will be held in front of a live audience, comes after reports that Walker paid a girlfriend to have an abortion in 2009 before later fathering her. The matchup could also force both men to respond to other attacks — personal and political — that have flooded voters’ TV screens and social media feeds for months.
“Raphael Warnock is going to have to answer why he voted 96 percent of the time with (President) Joe Biden, giving us record high inflation while doubling his own income,” Walker aide Will Kiley said, reviewing now-familiar claims from Republicans .
Warnock’s campaign manager, Quentin Fulks, wrote in a memo that the debate will highlight Walker’s “pattern of lies, disturbing behavior and positions” that “demonstrate that he is unfit to represent Georgia in the US Senate.” Fulks, however, added that Warnock will highlight his nearly two years in the Senate as evidence that he “will work with anyone to help the people of our state.”
Those previews show that Warnock, the 53-year-old pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, and Walker, the 60-year-old former college and pro football star, are betting on a midterm election that will help determine which party controls the Senate in recent years. two years into Biden’s term.
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 moderators could insert more details from Walker’s past.
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, who as a candidate supported a total national abortion ban, 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 admitted in 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 who battle the incumbents, appeared much more eager to go after Warnock directly. 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 debate in Savannah, coming days before early in-person voting begins Monday, is the only meeting between the two rivals because Walker declined to host 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 will 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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