Walker and Warnock debate just days ahead of early voting in Georgia
After months of buildup, Georgia’s top candidates for U.S. Senate met on a debate stage Friday night for the first, and perhaps only time, setting up the final stretch of one of the most closely watched races in the country.
Outside the sprawling riverfront hotel venue in Savannah, supporters of Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock and his challenger, Republican football star Herschel Walker, gathered on opposite street corners and traded dueling chants. But inside, there were few fireworks.
In a debate that at times turned personal, Walker and Warnock largely hewed to the talking points that have been a staple of their stump speeches – Warnock ticking through his bipartisan bona fides and Walker tying his opponent again and again to President Joe Biden.
“I want you to think about the damage politicians like Joe Biden and Raphael Warnock have done to this country, “ Walker told the small in-person audience and television viewers around the state.
“At the end of the day, this race is about who is ready to represent Georgia in the U.S. Senate,” Warnock said. “I think that choice is clear.”
For Walker, the debate’s stakes were perhaps highest as he tried to quell concerns from some Republican voters uneasy about the string of controversies that have dogged his campaign from the start – most recently, reports that Walker paid for an ex-girlfriend’s abortion, despite campaigning on his vocal opposition to the procedure with no exceptions.
On Friday night, Walker seemed to revise his earlier stance as he makes a late play for voters still on the fence about his candidacy and in wake of a slew of stories about his personal history with abortion.
“I said I support the “heartbeat bill,” Walker said Friday night, referring to the roughly six-week abortion ban with few exceptions passed by Governor Brian Kemp. “And I said I support the Georgia heartbeat bill because that’s the bill of the people from Governor Kemp. And I said that has exceptions in it. I said I’m a Christian, but I’m also representing the people of Georgia. And that’s who I represent, so what the people of Georgia stand for, I’m also going to stand with them.”
In May, WABE asked Walker about whether he would support a restrictive federal abortion law, and what form it may take: “There’s no exception in my mind, like I said, I believe in life. No exceptions,” he said.
Walker also revised an earlier position on the integrity of the 2020 election. While Walker has openly questioned without evidence that Joe Biden was not the rightfully elected president, on Friday night he said, “President Biden won and Raphael Warnock won.”
Warnock dodged answering direct questions about whether Biden should run for another term (“They didn’t hire me to be a pundit”) or if he supports expanding the size of the U.S. Supreme Court (“I’m going to do everything I can to protect the rights of the citizens of Georgia”). For his part, Walker said he would support former President Donald Trump should he make another run for the White House.
Walker attacked his opponent early and often, buoyed by the low expectations he set for himself publicly in the runup to the debate. Warnock, on the other hand, mostly tried to stay above the fray, as on the campaign trail, and did not raise most of the plethora of baggage trailing Walker’s candidacy. But in a notable departure from that strategy, Warnock jumped on an accusation about his support for law enforcement.
“We will see time and time tonight, as we’ve already seen, that my opponent has a problem with the truth,” Warnock said. “And just because he says something doesn’t mean it’s true. One thing I have not done is I have never pretended to be a police officer, and I’ve never threatened a shootout with the police.”
Walker then produced a sheriff’s badge from his pocket, presenting it as evidence of his service as a Cobb County honorary sheriff. The moderator admonished Walker for using a prop against debate rules.
“Well it’s not a prop,” Walker said, in the debate’s most viral moment. “This is real.”
Polls show Warnock and Walker locked in a tight race, along with Libertarian Chase Oliver also on the ballot. Early, in-person voting begins Monday.
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