Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker Get Ready To Rumble In Upcoming Senate Runoff

The competition between incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock and former football star Herschel Walker heats up as the Georgia Senate runoff nears.

According to the secretary of state’s office, more than 70,000 people voted Saturday, as early voting is underway before the December 6 runoff. 

Regardless of the Georgia race’s outcome, the Senate will be controlled by the Democrats, as the Democrats have 50 seats after the November 8 midterm election—plus, a vote from Vice President Kamala Harris to break any ties.

“Herschel Walker ain’t serious,” Warnock told supporters recently. “But the election is very serious. Don’t get those two things confused.” Walker probably wasn’t helping his case when he said, seemingly out of nowhere, at a recent campaign rally that he watched a movie about vampires and came to the conclusion: “I don’t want to be a vampire any more. I want to be a werewolf.”

Warnock also said the former running back “majors in lying,” emphasizing Walker’s falsehoods regarding his career in law enforcement and abortion stance. “My opponent lies about everything…He said he was a police officer. He’s not. He said he worked for the FBI. He did not. Said he graduated from the University of Georgia. He did not. Said he was valedictorian of his class. He was not…He said he had another business with 800 employees. It has eight.”

Walker was in the news earlier this week after reports showed he has benefitted from a tax break in 2021 and 2022 for a home he owns in Dallas; the tax exemption only applies if that home is your “principal residence.” He took the tax exemption for his Texas residence after launching a bid for Senate in a different state.

Meanwhile, Walker has called Warnock “Scooby-Doo” while offering up an impression of the cartoon, and has criticized the pastor regarding the Columbia Tower low-income apartment building in Atlanta, which is owned by Warnock’s church, as residents recently complained about unfair eviction notices. 

“What he’s doing in this apartment building at Columbia Towers is not right,” Walker said recently at a suburban Atlanta campaign stop. “You shouldn’t put Jesus’ name on what you’re doing to people, and don’t put Martin Luther King name on it. … You’re not Jesus, and you’re not Dr. King.”

Warnock denied these allegations, saying no one has been evicted, adding: “This isn’t the first time people attacked Ebenezer Baptist Church. They attacked Martin Luther King Jr. I’m in good company.” Columbia Residential, which manages the building’s day-to-day operations, issued a statement that aligned with Warnock, saying that not only was Warnock not involved in the building’s operations, but also that there had been no evictions in the building for not paying rent since June 2020.

In the November 8 election, Warnock led Walker by 37,000 votes; however, the incumbent did not cross the 50% threshold necessary to secure the victory.