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      Republicans throw support behind Herschel Walker after abortion denial

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      Republicans throw support behind Herschel Walker after abortion denialThe Georgia senate candidate has garnered support from Donald Trump to Lindsey Graham Republicans and anti-abortion groups across the country have been flocking to Herschel Walker’s defense despite accusations that the Republican candidate for Georgia’s senate paid for a woman’s abortion in 2009.After the accusation from an alleged ex-girlfriend was first reported in the Daily Beast, some of the country’s most influential Republicans have been either echoing Walker’s denial of the abortion or remaining in deafening silence, in turn revealing a clear hypocrisy towards the issue of abortion rights.Walker, ostensibly a staunch anti-abortion candidate, is currently in a tight race against the state’s Democratic senator Raphael Warnock in hopes of winning a Senate seat in less than five weeks and reclaiming control of the chamber. As part of his campaign, Walker has stated that he wants a total ban on abortions, saying “there’s no exception in my mind … Like I say, I believe in life. I believe in life.”On Monday, a bombshell report emerged that a woman who asked not to be identified underwent an abortion that Walker paid for after the former couple discovered that they had conceived a child.In response, Walker denied paying for the abortion, telling the conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, “Had that happened, I would have said it, because it’s nothing to be ashamed of there. You know, people have done that, but I know nothing about it. And if I knew about it, I would be honest and talk about it, but I know nothing about that.”He has since doubled down on his denial, accusing Democrats of sabotaging his campaign. “I know why you’re here,” he told reporters this week after his first campaign address since the reports emerged. “You’re here because the Democrats are desperate to hold on to this seat here, and they’re desperate to make this race about my family.”Republicans have been echoing Walker’s defense, with many claiming the story is a fraudulent attack launched by Democrats. Others have gone as far as to express no interest in the truth of the allegation as they reaffirm the priority of regaining control.“What I’m about to say is in no means a contradiction or a compromise of a principle. And please keep in mind that I am concerned about one thing, and one thing only at this point. I don’t care if Herschel Walker paid to abort endangered baby eagles. I want control of the Senate,” said Dana Loesch, a conservative radio host and former spokesperson of the National Rifle Association.Florida’s Republican senator Rick Scott accused Democrats of launching a smear campaign. Scott, who previously said that “abortion ends a life. It is abhorrent and has no place in our society,” defended Walker earlier this week in a public statement.As the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Scott wrote, “When the Democrats are losing, as they are right now, they lie and cheat and smear their opponents … They know that Herschel Walker is winning, so they have cranked up the smear machine.”Former president Donald Trump, who once called himself “strongly pro-life” and said that women who get abortions should face “some form of punishment”, also came to Walker’s defense.“Walker is being slandered and maligned by the ‘fake news media’ and obviously, the Democrats,” Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social. “It’s very important for our county and the great state of Georgia that Herschel Walker wins this election,” he added.Ronna McDaniel, chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC), tweeted: “Georgia could decide the Senate majority, so desperate Democrats and liberal media have turned to anonymous sources and character assassination.”McDaniel, who responded with “Life wins!” earlier this year when the supreme court stripped away federal abortion protections, added, “Herschel Walker will deliver a safer and more prosperous Georgia, and the RNC will continue to invest in the Senate race.”South Carolina’s Republican senator Lindsey Graham defended Walker on Twitter, saying, “[Walker] has adamantly denied these allegations and he will be the next senator from Georgia because people are going to vote for what is best for their family.”Graham last month proposed a nationwide 15-week abortion ban.The National Right to Life Committee, the country’s oldest and largest national anti-abortion organization, also released a statement in support of Walker, calling the report a “series of attempted Democratic character assassinations”.“National Right to Life stands behind its endorsement of Herschel Walker … Herschel Walker wants to protect unborn children while Raphael Warnock wants to see them die through unlimited abortion. The Democratic party knows it cannot win on the issues, so we once again see an attempted character assassination, a tactic that is sadly all too often encouraged by a compliant and willing media.”Susan B Anthony Pro-Life America, another anti-abortion organization, also stood behind Walker amid the reports by saying, “Herschel Walker has denied these allegations in the strongest possible terms and we stand firmly alongside him.”One prominent anti-abortion Republican, the Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, has remained unusually quiet since the reports emerged.Earlier this year, McConnell expressed support towards Walker’s candidacy, saying: “Herschel is the only one who can unite the party, defeat Senator Warnock and help us take back the Senate. I look forward to working with Herschel in Washington to get the job done.”However, since the reports, McConnell, who has one of the staunchest anti-abortion voices on Capitol Hill and has previously voted for anti-abortion bills and against the Family and Medical Leave Act and the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act, has yet to publicly comment.TopicsUS midterm elections 2022US politicsAbortionRepublicansGeorgianewsReuse this content More

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      Will the Herschel Walker Allegations Actually Matter?

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      The scandal could be decisive even if one in 50 would-be Walker voters change their minds.Why this Herschel Walker episode could be decisive: It’s largely because of the 50-50 nature of Georgia politics. Erik S Lesser/EPA, via ShutterstockWill the Herschel Walker Allegations Actually Matter?I don’t think there’s a question I’m asked more often than: “Will this matter” on Election Day?Usually, the question follows the latest gaffe or breaking news that casts a candidate in a bad light. And usually, my answer is, “No, it will not matter” — or at least a version of “no.” The country is deeply polarized, and voters have a short memory.This week, I’ve been getting that question about the Georgia Senate race. As you’ve probably heard, the Republican nominee Herschel Walker reportedly paid a woman to have an abortion. The woman, who shared her story with The Daily Beast, said she was not only an ex-girlfriend, but also the mother of one of Mr. Walker’s children. Mr. Walker has denied the allegation.It’s too soon to look to polling to judge the political fallout. So far, there has been only one survey fielded entirely since the allegations, covering only one day. That poll, an Insider Advantage survey, showed the Democrat Raphael Warnock up by three points, which does happen to be an improvement for Mr. Warnock compared with its prior poll. Mr. Walker led that one by four points. (State polling is infrequent, so it’s hard to say when we’ll get a better sense from the polls about how or whether the allegations have changed voters’ views.)But regardless of what the next surveys say, I think my short answer to the familiar “will this matter” question is “yes” — or at least a version of “yes.”That’s not because this represents the absolute worst case for Mr. Walker. His success is so vital to his party — in its chances to retake the Senate — that his fellow Republicans are unlikely to throw him overboard.The State of the 2022 Midterm ElectionsWith the primaries over, both parties are shifting their focus to the general election on Nov. 8.Standing by Herschel Walker: After a report that the G.O.P. Senate candidate in Georgia paid for a girlfriend’s abortion in 2009, Republicans rallied behind him, fearing that a break with the former football star could hurt the party’s chances to take the Senate.Wisconsin Senate Race: Mandela Barnes, the Democratic candidate, is wobbling in his contest against Senator Ron Johnson, the Republican incumbent, as an onslaught of G.O.P. attack ads takes a toll.G.O.P. Senate Gains: After signs emerged that Republicans were making gains in the race for the Senate, the polling shift is now clear, writes Nate Cohn, The Times’s chief political analyst.Democrats’ Closing Argument: Buoyed by polls that show the end of Roe v. Wade has moved independent voters their way, vulnerable House Democrats have reoriented their campaigns around abortion rights in the final weeks before the election.From the standpoint of the party, this might be more like Donald J. Trump after the “Access Hollywood” tape in 2016 than the Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin after his “legitimate rape” comments in 2012. Although denying the allegations of paying for an abortion carries its own risks, it does mean that his party has a way to avoid criticizing him directly. That’s something different from the cases of Mr. Akin or Mr. Trump, who each were captured on tape and so Republicans had to respond to shared facts.One factor that cuts in both directions: The news reinforces a pre-existing narrative about Mr. Walker, who has recently acknowledged he was the father of several children he had not previously mentioned publicly. But for that same reason, he may have already incurred most of the potential reputational damage before this allegation.There’s one other thing that’s odd about this scandal: The voters likeliest to find paying for abortion to be deeply repugnant are also likeliest to be solidly Republican. Many lower-turnout, persuadable or swing voters, in contrast, may be relatively likely to support abortion rights, and may not find this as offensive as another scandal. Hypocrisy is not an unusual accusation for a politician, after all.And yet I’m still inclined to say “yes,” this might really matter. And that’s largely because of the circumstances.First, this was the closest state in the country in 2020: President Biden won Georgia by two-tenths of a point. On paper, this was always likely to be a tight contest — a Democratic incumbent was running in a midterm year in a state slightly more Republican than the nation as a whole. Indeed, the polls showed a very close race (with Mr. Warnock ahead) before the allegations.So in this case, even a modest effect — smaller than a point or two — could be important.Second is the possibility of a runoff election. As you may remember from 2020, Georgia holds runoff elections if no candidate receives at least 50 percent of the vote on Election Day. This race has long seemed poised to go to a runoff (there is a Libertarian candidate, and the Libertarian usually receives a couple of points in Georgia).For Mr. Walker, the runoff would carry some risk and reward. The possible upside: It will be further from this week’s allegations. The downside is that there won’t be anyone else to help carry him to victory. The state’s Republican governor, Brian Kemp, is seemingly likely to defeat Stacey Abrams outright, so a hypothetical Walker-Warnock runoff is likely to be the top of the ticket — the major reason to show up and vote. In the Nov. 8 election by contrast, Mr. Walker may benefit from Kemp supporters and other general election regulars who may reluctantly vote for Mr. Walker, but might not have shown up on his account.If Mr. Walker can’t move past these allegations, would he really be able to get the same Republican turnout he would have otherwise? Wouldn’t Democrats be more motivated to stop him from taking office? Here, the analogy that might be most promising for Democrats is Roy Moore, the Alabama Republican who lost a special election for Senate after numerous women, including several teenagers, accused him of sexual misconduct.I don’t want to start a new Olympic event in “political scandals” for judging Mr. Moore and Mr. Walker. What’s relevant is that Democrats enjoyed a very considerable turnout advantage in that Alabama election, the kind of advantage that can really only happen in a low-turnout special election.The possibility that control of the Senate might be on the line would certainly mitigate the risk of a total collapse in Republican turnout in a runoff. But if the race is as close as the polls and recent electoral history suggest, the scandal might be decisive even if one in 50 would-be Walker voters decide they just don’t need to go out of their way to send him to Washington. More

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      Herschel Walker Sidesteps Abortion Issue at Georgia Campaign Stop

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      WADLEY, Ga. — Herschel Walker, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Georgia, drove to a lumber yard on Thursday in this tiny town 150 miles east of Atlanta for his first public event since he was accused of paying for an ex-girlfriend’s abortion. But there was no getting away from the claim that threatens to upend his political aspirations.Asked if he had contacted any of the mothers of his children, one of whom told The Daily Beast he had paid for her abortion, a glasses-clad Mr. Walker told reporters, “No. Why do I need to?”“I know why you’re here,” he told the clutch of reporters, television crews and photographers. “You’re here because the Democrats are desperate to hold onto this seat.”Mr. Walker, a first-time candidate and former football star at the University of Georgia, has been adamantly denying the report, speaking only with conservative media outlets, since it emerged on Monday and prompted charges of hypocrisy. He has supported a ban on abortions with no exceptions for rape, incest or saving the life of the mother.To the news media who met him at Battle Lumber Company, he avoided the issue, calling it a distraction from President Biden’s unpopularity and the president’s alliance with his Democratic opponent, Senator Raphael Warnock. Mr. Walker did not mention the matter to a small group of mill workers who gathered to hear his stump speech — most of whom were unaware of Mr. Walker’s appearance until shortly before he arrived.In a statement Thursday afternoon, he echoed the “America First” language of his political benefactor, Donald J. Trump, when he vowed, “I am running to put Georgia first.”But hours earlier, abortion was still setting the stage for the day. Mr. Walker told the conservative commentator Hugh Hewitt that he did not know the woman making the claim, although she says they had a child together. In discussing the report that he had paid for an abortion, he seemed to undercut his own anti-abortion views, telling Mr. Hewitt, “Had that happened, I would have said it, because it’s nothing to be ashamed of there.”Understand the Herschel Walker Abortion ReportCard 1 of 5The report. More

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      Woman who said Herschel Walker paid for abortion also has child with him – report

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      Woman who said Herschel Walker paid for abortion also has child with him – reportUnnamed woman conceived another child with Republican Senate candidate years after the abortion, according to Daily Beast A woman who said Herschel Walker paid for her abortion in 2009 is the mother of one of his children, according to a new report, undercutting the Georgia Republican Senate candidate’s claim to not know who she was.The pastor v the football player: can Raphael Warnock tackle Herschel Walker?Read moreThe Daily Beast, which first reported the abortion, said it had agreed not to reveal details of the woman’s identity.Walker, who has expressed support for a national abortion ban without exceptions, called the allegation a “flat-out lie”, threatened a lawsuit against the outlet and said he had no idea who the woman might be.In a Thursday interview with the conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, Walker repeatedly called the accusation “untrue”.But Walker added: “If that had happened, I would have said there’s nothing to be ashamed of there. People have done that – but I know nothing about it.”On Wednesday night, the Beast revealed that the woman was so well known to Walker that, according to her, they conceived another child years after the abortion. She decided to continue with the pregnancy, though she noted that Walker, as during the earlier pregnancy, expressed that it wasn’t a convenient time for him, the outlet reported.The Beast said the Walker campaign declined to comment. Walker is scheduled to make a public appearance on Thursday morning in Wadley, Georgia.The latest reporting ensures that abortion will continue to be a central issue in the Georgia race, one of the most competitive Senate contests. Walker and the Democratic senator, Raphael Warnock, are locked in a tight contest that is key to the balance of power in the Senate.A series of stories have shaken Walker’s campaign. The former NFL star has been accused of repeatedly threatening his ex-wife’s life, exaggerating claims of financial success and overstating his role in a for-profit program alleged to have preyed on veterans and service members while defrauding the government.Earlier this year, after a story by the Beast, Walker acknowledged the existence of three children he had not previously talked about.The woman told the Beast for Wednesday’s story that his denial of the abortion was somewhat surprising to her.“Sure, I was stunned, but I guess it also doesn’t shock me, that maybe there are just so many of us that he truly doesn’t remember,” the woman said. “But then again, if he really forgot about it, that says something, too.”In the Beast report published late on Monday, the outlet said it reviewed a receipt showing the woman’s payment for the procedure, along with a get-well card from Walker and bank deposit records showing a $700 personal check from Walker dated five days after the abortion receipt.During the Republican primary, Walker backed a national ban on abortions with no exceptions for cases involving rape, incest or a woman’s health being at risk – particularly notable at a time when the 1973 Roe v Wade supreme court precedent had been overturned and Democrats in Congress were discussing codifying abortion rights.“I’m for life,” Walker has said repeatedly. Asked about whether he would allow for any exceptions, he has said there are “no excuses”.As the Republican nominee, Walker has sometimes sidestepped questions about his earlier support for a national abortion ban, a tacit nod to the fact that most voters, including many Republicans, want at least some legal access to abortion.TopicsUS politicsGeorgiaAbortionnewsReuse this content More

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      Christian Walker, Warrior for the Right, Now Battles His Father

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      Soon after Herschel Walker, the former football star, announced he would run for U.S. Senate in Georgia as a Republican, his son Christian appeared with him at an event at Mar-a-Lago, and grinned when his father greeted him with a kiss on the head. “Had the honor of introducing my dad,” he tweeted, “then got to hug a future senator. Perfect night.”The moment seemed a logical convergence of Christian Walker’s personal and public lives: the young man was already emerging as a conservative social media star who took delight in provoking the left, and defending Donald Trump’s MAGA movement.Yet, after that night, he fell largely silent about his father’s campaign. That changed in spectacular fashion Monday night after news broke that in 2009, Herschel Walker, a staunch opponent of abortion rights, paid for his then-girlfriend to have an abortion, according to a report from the Daily Beast.“You’re not a ‘family man’ when you left us to bang a bunch of women, threatened to kill us, and had us move over 6 times in 6 months running from your violence,” Christian Walker wrote of his father on Twitter.Feuding among family can be a source of embarrassment for any political campaign. But what unfolded in Georgia this week was extraordinary for the level of indignation so forcefully and publicly aimed at a candidate by his child at such a crucial campaign moment.Herschel Walker, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Georgia, one of the most competitive races in the country,Nicole Craine for The New York TimesNow, Christian Walker, 23, is at the center of a drama that could upend one of the most competitive races in the country.The elder Mr. Walker called the abortion report a “flat-out lie,” while conservative news media and Republicans, eager to regain control of the narrowly split Senate, rallied to his side. The Walker campaign did not respond to a request for comment for this article.The spectacle has also put a fresh spotlight on how Christian Walker arrived at his political views, some, he now says, directly connected to his father and his own tumultuous family life.Christian Walker, though, has been his own right-wing warrior for several years. He built a large social media presence, and revels in his seeming contradictions. He is a young Black man who called the George Floyd protests “terrorist attacks.” He is attracted to men but does not identify as “gay,” while calling L.G.B.T.Q. activists a “rainbow cult” and mocking Pride Month. He delights in antagonizing the left through short video rants on social media, often while holding an iced coffee and wearing an impish grin.The State of the 2022 Midterm ElectionsWith the primaries over, both parties are shifting their focus to the general election on Nov. 8.Standing by Herschel Walker: After a report that the G.O.P. Senate candidate in Georgia paid for a girlfriend’s abortion in 2009, Republicans rallied behind him, fearing that a break with the former football star could hurt the party’s chances to take the Senate.Democrats’ Closing Argument: Buoyed by polls that show the end of Roe v. Wade has moved independent voters their way, vulnerable House Democrats have reoriented their campaigns around abortion rights in the final weeks before the election.G.O.P. Senate Gains: After signs emerged that Republicans were making gains in the race for the Senate, the polling shift is now clear, writes Nate Cohn, The Times’s chief political analyst.Trouble for Nevada Democrats: The state has long been vital to the party’s hold on the West. Now, Democrats are facing potential losses up and down the ballot.His following on TikTok, Twitter and Instagram has made him well-known among members of Gen Z — many of whom are now just hearing about his father’s heyday as a Heisman Trophy-winning football star at the University of Georgia.In several statements (some deleted) and videos posted on Twitter on Monday and Tuesday, the younger Mr. Walker tore into his father, displaying an angry, wounded vulnerability that points to a complicated relationship with his celebrity father.“My favorite issue to talk about is father absence. Surprise! Because it affected me,” he said in a video posted to Twitter this week.“He has four kids, four different women, wasn’t in the house raising one of them,” he said of his father in one of two videos he posted to Twitter. “He was out having sex with other women. Do you care about family values?”Christian Walker has leveled some of his criticism at conservative activists and pundits who he said are “questioning my authenticity” while trying to pressure him into publicly supporting his father’s candidacy.He said he decided to speak out after his father denied the abortion story.“I haven’t told one story about what I experienced with him,” he said in one video. “I’m just simply saying don’t lie.”Christian Walker in 2020. He has leveled some of his criticism at conservative activists and pundits who he said are “questioning my authenticity” while trying to pressure him into publicly supporting his father’s candidacy.RHTY/starmaxinc.com/ShutterstockDespite the personal nature of his latest posts about his father, they echoed similar themes from many of his political diatribes, videos that often include tirades against men, like Herschel Walker, who have fathered children out of wedlock, or men and women who have affairs.“You’re not a victim when you sleep with a married man,” Christian Walker titled a recent episode of his podcast, “Uncancellable.” He has criticized an Instagram model for her alleged affair with the singer Adam Levine, who he noted “had a pregnant wife with children at home.”At times, he has publicly embraced his father’s legacy, initially promoting his candidacy. At other times he’s asserted his independence, writing in 2015, when he was a teenager, “um people need to understand that I’m CHRISTIAN WALKER not Herschel walkers son.”Christian Walker did not respond to a request for comment.Mr. Walker, who grew up in Dallas, is the only child of Herschel Walker and his ex-wife, Cindy Grossman. Ms. Grossman filed for divorce in 2001, two years after their son was born.Herschel Walker dedicated his 2008 memoir to his son, writing: “To my son, Christian Walker, I love you. Thank you for helping me to mature as a man and a father.”After his son’s Twitter posts this week, Herschel Walker tweeted, “I LOVE my son no matter what.”Heath Garrett, a strategist whose firm does work with a Herschel Walker-aligned PAC, said Wednesday that he thinks “it is possible that Georgia voters are capable of having sympathy for both Herschel and Christian in this saga.”Christian Walker’s comments this week prompted a backlash from some conservatives, but also an outpouring of support on social media. Many, including some self-described liberals, said they disagreed with his politics but were moved by his family struggle. Others shared stories of their own absentee parents or childhood trauma.In Dallas, Christian Walker became a star athlete making waves in the competitive cheer scene in Texas. He won a world championship as a member of Spirit of Texas, a premier cheer team, according to social media reports and press interviews.In past interviews, Herschel Walker has said that after getting over the surprise about his son’s sport of choice, he was supportive. “I was proud that he was doing it,” he told C.B.S. News in 2015.Christian Walker continued his cheer career when he enrolled at Southern Methodist University in 2017. But in 2020, when he moved to the West Coast and transferred to the University of California, Los Angeles, his priorities seemed to change.Posts on Christian’s Instagram account dated before June 2020 mostly consist of cheerleading photos, scenic Los Angeles, and typical influencer shots of him posing in designer clothing brands such as Gucci and Givenchy.But his posts made after the murder of George Floyd have an explicitly political slant. He called the Black Lives Matter protest movement the “KKK in blackface.” Along the way he amassed hundreds of thousands of followers across social media platforms.In online classes at U.C.L.A., however, Mr. Walker did not display the same level of combativeness, fellow classmates said.Jessica Epps, who took several classes with him during her time at U.C.L.A., remembered being surprised about how understated he was. During one class that took place amid the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, the professor asked students to discuss the movement, and Ms. Epps remembered Mr. Walker speaking up and being somewhat critical. Still, he was measured in his response, she said.“His demeanor definitely seemed a lot more calm and reserved in the classroom setting,” she said. He seldom spoke during lectures, and mostly “kept to himself,” she said.He was also shaped by the uniqueness of being a conservative on a liberal college campus, he told The Conservateur, a conservative site.“Public schools and colleges have turned into Leftists’ indoctrination centers,” he told the publication. “There’s no ‘tolerance’ for any perspective other than the one that the professor is pumping into you.”At U.C.L.A., Christian Walker became known for tirades filmed in his car at a Starbucks drive-through, and conflicts with students and administrators.In livestreams and direct messages on social media, he feuded with fellow students and other people who assailed his political beliefs and, specifically, his use of an offensive term for mentally disabled people.The incident that seemed to spark the most acrimony occurred earlier this year, when he tweeted screenshots of comments made by students in a Chinese language class he had taken the year before, which showed them expressing their anger at his being in the class with them.“How dare you @ucla. I’ve paid 100s of thousands for this degree. I show up to class to study like everyone else. And you allow your students to treat me like crap because of my political beliefs? Wow. Disgusting,” Christian tweeted.Some U.C.L.A. students were fascinated by his persona.“He’s very loud, very flamboyant, he’s very attention-grabbing if you’re scrolling and find one of his videos — he’s immediately yelling,” said Joseph Keane, a recent U.C.L.A. graduate who said he and his roommate would watch Christian Walker’s videos to amuse themselves. “We would laugh — it’s intentionally over the top.”Mr. Keane said Christian Walker was well-known on campus as a conservative firebrand, though he and his friends did not take him seriously.In June, Christian Walker graduated from U.C.L.A. with a bachelor’s degree, according to the school. Shortly after, he announced he was moving to a place where more people shared his political beliefs: Florida. More

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      The pastor v the football player: can Raphael Warnock tackle Herschel Walker?

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      The pastor v the football player: can Raphael Warnock tackle Herschel Walker? Georgia in focus: Warnock’s fundraising is impressive, though the Democratic senator lacks the name recognition his scandal-prone opponentWhen Democrat Raphael Warnock won his election last year, he celebrated his success as a reflection of America’s promise.Only in this country could the son of a Black woman who once spent her summers picking cotton experience such a dramatic rise, becoming the first African American to represent Georgia in the US Senate, Warnock told his supporters. He implored his new constituents,in the wake of a historically divisive campaign season, to embrace the values that made his win possible.“Will we continue to divide, distract and dishonor one another? Or will we love our neighbors as we love ourselves?” Warnock said in his victory speech. Just hours later, a group of Donald Trump’s supporters breached the Capitol in an attempt to disrupt the congressional certification of Joe Biden’s election. Since then, the country has endured record-high inflation, marked 1 million lives lost to coronavirus and witnessed the end of federal protections for abortion access.She’s Georgia’s great blue hope – but can Stacey Abrams win a crucial race?Read moreIn the face of that national upheaval, Warnock now faces a familiar challenge. Once again, the battle for the Senate runs through Georgia, and Democrats’ hopes for controlling the upper chamber of Congress rest on Warnock’s shoulders. Republicans only need to flip one seat to regain their Senate majority – and given that Joe Biden carried Georgia by just 0.2 points in 2020, all eyes are on Warnock.Or at least most eyes, because Warnock’s opponent is Herschel Walker – a sports celebrity with a history of scandals that reached new heights this week with the accusation that the staunch anti-abortion conservative paid a girlfriend to terminate her pregnancy – reports he has denied but that only grew more grave after his own son appeared to back them.Warnock and his supporters, meanwhile, are hoping that his compelling personal story, combined with his accomplishments in Congress so far, can again carry him to victory. The 11th of 12 children, Warnock grew up in the Kayton Homes public housing complex in Savannah, Georgia. After getting his undergraduate degree from the historically Black Morehouse College, Warnock earned his PhD from the Union Theological Seminary and became an ordained minister. In 2005, he was appointed senior pastor of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist church, where Dr Martin Luther King Jr once preached to the congregation.“I think the historical significance of Ebenezer church instantly put Raphael Warnock into the spotlight,” said Andra Gillespie, a political science professor at Emory University.“Any pastor of Ebenezer Baptist church [who] is standing in the pulpit of Martin Luther King, Jr and Sr, is going to be noticed, and so Reverend Warnock certainly had that cachet.”Even after his win last year – he was elected in a runoff vote to finish out the term of the late senator Johnny Isakson, and is now running for his first full six-year term – Warnock has continued to preach at Ebenezer, and can occasionally be seen taking selfies with congregants after services on Sundays. His activism work at Ebenezer appears to have informed his work in Congress, where he has championed voting rights and successfully lobbied to cap insulin costs for Medicare recipients. Warnock has also made a point to work across the aisle, teaming up with Republican Ted Cruz on a highway funding proposal.“I’ve been very impressed at what he’s done in Congress, what he’s managed to get through in the short time that he’s been there,” David Walker, a 39-year-old voter from Marietta, said at a Cobb County Democrats rally last month. “It’s going to help a lot down here.”Bonnie Watson, a 71-year-old voter from Marietta, said she would even consider supporting Warnock for president. “I like his ethics,” Watson said at the rally. “I like the fact that he’s a communicator, that he is a community builder, that he is a leader. But he also is someone I think that can look at both sides and understand what needs to be done.”Even with his time in the Senate, however, Warnock does not have name recognition over his Republican opponent. A former professional football player, Herschel Walker is best known for the Heisman Trophy he won in 1982 while playing for the University of Georgia Bulldogs. Walker helped the Bulldogs win a national championship in 1980; when he left the school, the team retired his jersey number, 34.That fame, combined with Trump’s early endorsement, allowed Walker to easily secure the Republican nomination in May. His team leans hard into his celebrated football record, offering hats to supporters that say “#34 for ‘22”. At a rally last month in Rome, Georgia, attendees waited in a long line to take photos with him.“I’ve watched him since I was six years old with the Georgia Bulldogs play football, and he’s really a great guy,” said Stephanie Nichols, a 48-year-old voter from Rome who carried a football she wanted Walker to sign.That storied history seems to be enough for many Georgia voters to overlook his controversial, and often nonsensical, comments on everything from the pandemic to abortion access, which Warnock has seized on in his campaign ads. One features a clip of Walker claiming to know a miracle cure for Covid, which he does not specifically name. “I have something that can bring you into a building that would clean you from Covid as you walk through this dry mist. As you walk through the door it will kill any Covid on your body,” Walker says in the clip.“You hear [Walker] talk sometimes, and it’s just word salad,” said Jacquelyn Bettadapur, chair of the Cobb County Democratic Committee. “He doesn’t have the oratory skills. He doesn’t have the positions. He can’t even express himself coherently.”Walker’s controversies and gaffes have also offered Democrats plenty of fodder. His ex-wife, Cindy Grossman, has claimed he threatened to kill her. (Walker has said he was dealing with mental health issues at the time, but he has not denied the allegation.) Walker has three children from non-marital relationships, and he did not publicly acknowledge them until reports about them emerged. (Walker has said he supports all his children and “chose not to use them as props to win a political campaign”.) He claimed to have previously worked in law enforcement. (He did not, although his campaign asserted he was an honorary deputy in Cobb county.) Walker once boasted that he graduated in the top 1% of his class from the University of Georgia. (He never got his degree.) A New York Times investigation raised questions about whether Walker’s food-distribution company had spread false information about donating some of its profits to charity.Most recently, and perhaps most damning of all for a candidate who has campaigned strongly against abortion, Walker now stands accused by a former girlfriend of paying for her to get an abortion in 2009. He has denied the reports. His son, also a vocal conservative, blasted his father on social media, calling him a hypocrite and a liar.And yet, despite Walker’s vulnerabilities, most recent polls indicate that he and Warnock are running neck and neck. The race could prove even more difficult than Warnock’s last contest, given the national headwinds facing all Democratic candidates: in addition to widespread complaints about rising prices, Biden’s approval rating has been underwater for more than a year.“At the end of the day, a lot of this is a nationalized election, and it’s much more about what the Democrats have done over these last two years when they’ve been in control versus what Herschel Walker may have done in the past,” said Jay Williams, a longtime Republican strategist based in the Atlanta area. “You could put a potted plant against Warnock, or you could put a potted plant against Walker, and all the Democrats would vote for the potted plant or all the Republicans would vote for the potted plant. It’s really that kind of election.”Walker’s supporters have echoed that stance, saying party identity is enough to guarantee their vote. “I like him because he’s a Republican. That’s all I need to know,” Bill McCain, a 78-year-old voter from Lindale, said at the Rome rally after grabbing one of Walker’s lawn signs.Warnock is clearly aware that he has a real race on his hands, and he has been fundraising aggressively. In the second quarter of 2022 Warnock raised $17m, bringing his campaign’s total haul to more than $70m. In comparison, Walker raised just $6.2m over the same three months, and Warnock’s cash advantage has allowed him to dominate the Georgia airwaves.The forthcoming debate, scheduled for 14 October in Savannah, could provide Warnock with another opportunity to draw a clear contrast between him and Walker. The two candidates jostled for months over the debate schedule, and Warnock accused Walker of being “scared for voters to hear what he has to say”. Even Walker’s allies acknowledge he will be at a disadvantage on stage.“Clearly Warnock is a much more seasoned speaker, much more eloquent,” Williams said. “If I were [Walker], I’d just stay on message, stay focused on what is his campaign plan and what is the difference between him and Warnock.”One of Warnock’s tasks in the debate will be to motivate Democratic base voters, including African Americans, to turn out in November, and Gillespie argued that questions about race-related issues could help him in that regard. Warnock and Walker are both Black men but their approaches to discussing race are notably distinct.While Warnock has directly confronted the ways in which African Americans are uniquely impacted by federal policy decisions, Walker has instead attacked his opponent for raising the issue at all. “Senator Warnock believes America is a bad country full of racist people,” Walker said in an ad released last month. “I believe we’re a great country full of generous people.”Walker may have appealed to Republican leaders in part because they hoped he could neutralize potential allegations of racism against Warnock, Gillespie said. But Walker’s approach to the topic of race may not sit well with other African Americans, who make up about a third of Georgia’s population.“Walker has a history of avoiding and deflecting on topics related to race. I think that’s going to be off-putting to African American voters,” Gillespie said. “The question is whether or not Warnock can use that to mobilize Black voters to make sure that they turn out at the highest rate possible.”Gillespie conceded that the debate is unlikely to sway many voters, but said it could make a critical difference for the small swath of Georgians still trying to make up their minds. In the rapidly shifting political landscape of Georgia, once a reliably Republican state and now a hotly contested battleground, Warnock’s fate will probably be decided by a handful of points.“We just have to accept that Georgia is going to be an electorally competitive state,” Gillespie said. “What that means, regardless of who wins, is that we’re in the era of narrow margins.”TopicsUS midterm elections 2022GeorgiaUS politicsDemocratsfeaturesReuse this content More

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      Woman Who Said Herschel Walker Paid for Abortion Is Also Mother of His Child, Report Says

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      ATLANTA — The woman who told The Daily Beast on Monday that Herschel Walker had paid for her abortion in 2009 told the outlet on Wednesday that she was the mother of one of his children, undercutting his defense that he did not know her identity.Mr. Walker, the Republican nominee for Senate in Georgia, had swiftly denounced the original Daily Beast article, denying its veracity and pledging to sue the outlet for defamation. So far, the campaign has not pursued any legal action.When asked earlier Wednesday by Brian Kilmeade of Fox News whether he knew the woman’s identity, Mr. Walker said “not at all.”“It’s sort of like everyone is anonymous, everyone is leaking. They want you to confess to something you have no clue about,” he said of Democrats and reporters. “But it just shows how desperate they are right now.”The woman, who told The Daily Beast she wished to remain anonymous to preserve her privacy and that of her child with Mr. Walker, provided the outlet with a copy of the receipt from the abortion clinic, a $700 check and a “get well soon” card signed by Mr. Walker. The article includes a photo of the card with what it said was Mr. Walker’s signature.The woman told The Daily Beast she was moved to say more about her relationship with Mr. Walker and the child they had together after he said he did not know her identity. The New York Times has not been able to independently confirm The Daily Beast’s reporting.Representatives for Mr. Walker’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.Since beginning his campaign in 2021, Mr. Walker has contended with a flurry of reports scrutinizing his personal and professional life. Mr. Walker, a former University of Georgia football star, has lied about and exaggerated his business dealings, and he failed to disclose three children from previous relationships that he did not mention publicly.More recently, Democrats have put Mr. Walker’s history of domestic violence at the center of their campaign message. One television advertisement from a Democratic-aligned group, Georgia Honor, shows footage of Mr. Walker’s ex-wife, Cindy Grossman, detailing a moment when he held a gun to her temple and threatened to kill her, calling the episode “not an isolated incident.” The spot has been running in Georgia’s largest media markets for a week. More