Georgia is one of the states where the majority will be decided after 2023. It pits Democrat Raphael Warnock against Republican Herschel Walker, Donald Trump's candidate. Both come to the debate in the wake of seperate scandals. Walker has been accused of hypocrisy and violence at home, Warnock for receiving a $7,417 monthly housing allowance while an apartment building controlled by his church is trying to evict tenants.
The church management problems of Warnock, a Protestant pastor, fall short of the accusations that Herschel Walker has had to face. "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," his son Christian Walker has said. The former soccer player responded by saying, "I love my son no matter what."
Should he have applied?
On the other hand, a woman has accused him of paying her for an abortion in 2009, and offering to pay for a second abortion some time later. Walker, who presents himself as an anti-abortion conservative, has denied it all.
This situation would seem to indicate that Herschel Walker's chances of unseating Senator Warnock are slim. Peggy Noonan, from the Wall Street Journal, wrote an article on October 6 entitled: Why Herschel Walker shouldn’t have run.
Recovery in the polls
But the polls point in a different direction. Any moral failings the Republican candidate may have seem not to make a dent. Real Clear Politics picks up a Warnock advantage of only 3.3 points over Walker. And the latter is rapidly recovering in the voters' favor: on October 10, the difference was 5.2 points.
And, although he has said of himself that he is not very smart, he has found the right speech to take on Pastor Warnock, who makes his living with his oratory. In the debate that pitted Warnock against Walker, abortion, inflation and health care centered the dialectical clashes. In a gesture somewhere between humility, lack of ambition and political strategy, Walker said, "This race ain’t about me. It’s about what Joe Biden and Raphael Warnock have done to you and your family."
Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker: "This race ain't about me. It's about what Joe Biden and Raphael Warnock have done to you and your family." pic.twitter.com/PvXc98SuNL
- The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) October 14, 2022
And he turned the abortion issue on its head, asking his rival Warnock a question, "If Black Lives Matter, why are you not protecting those babies, and instead of aborting those babies, why are you not baptizing those babies?"
Herschel Walker (R): "If Black Lives Matter, why are you not protecting those babies, and instead of aborting those babies, why are you not baptizing those babies?"
Sen. Raphael Warnock (D): "I think the women of Georgia have a clear choice." pic.twitter.com/Ry6CaAilRB
- The Recount (@therecount) October 14, 2022
At another point, one of the journalists asks him if he would support Donald Trump in 2024. Walker does not hesitate in his response:
Moderator: "Would you support a Trump 2024 run?"
Herschel Walker: "Yes I would. President Trump is my friend I won't leave my allies, which is what Senator Warnock and Joe Biden did in Afghanistan." pic.twitter.com/87cSx3tiqI
- Becker News (@NewsBecker) October 15, 2022
In the face of this dialectical ability, Pastor Warnock did not know how to respond with much force:
I support our law enforcement. My opponent pretends to be law enforcement.
My opponent has a problem with the truth. pic.twitter.com/xNxuRgvZTH
- Reverend Raphael Warnock (@ReverendWarnock) October 14, 2022
The press reports the outcome of the debate as a draw, or as a victory for Herschel Walker on points. The Hill, for example, headlines an analysis saying, "Walker gives GOP hope with his debate performance in Georgia." And it begins with these words:
Republican Herschel Walker won a moral victory by avoiding disaster at his sole televised debate with Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) Friday. In the process, the former football star will have given his party hope that he can overcome a checkered campaign to prevail in the race, which could plausibly determine control of the Senate.
