ATLANTA (AP) — After months of arguing that Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker wasn’t ready for a highly elected office, Georgia Senator Rafael Warnock stepped up criticism ahead of Election Day. , saying celebrity athletes are fundamentally unsuitable for Capitol Hill. .
From a meeting with the former President Barack Obama Warnock called Walker a “pathological liar” during a statewide bus tour on Tuesday’s Election Day eve. business, academic, professional When philanthropic achievements and was done accused of assaulting family And of Paying for a girlfriend’s abortion Despite public opposition to the procedure.
“This is a man lying about the most basic facts of his life,” Warnock said on stage he shared with Obama. I want you to somehow imagine what happened… Herschel Walker isn’t ready He’s not ready He’s not just not ready He’s It doesn’t fit.”
Walker, who denies paying for the abortion, is sticking to claims he’s made for months.Warnock is the rubber stamp of President Joe Biden and the Democratic congressional majority, and Walker blames inflation, rising crime, and the continued flow of immigrants across the US border into Mexico.
“He told me I wasn’t ready. No, you’re not ready,” Walker replied Thursday in a suburb of Atlanta. The choice is yours — either you don’t know what you’re doing or you voted for him 96% of the time and it was wrong It’s heading in that direction.”
These competing closing arguments reflect the increasingly personal nature of Georgia’s contest and the broader national battle for control of Congress. Warnock and most Senate Democrats are urging voters to avoid the Biden and National Party brands and instead consider choices between individual candidates amid generationally high inflation. intends to nationalize Tuesday’s midterm elections as a referendum on Biden and his policies.
A matchup in Georgia could help determine which party controls the Senate in the final two years of Biden’s term. The House is currently split 50-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris tied for the Democrats.
Throughout the summer and early fall, the 53-year-old Warnock generally avoided attacking the 60-year-old Walker directly.Warnock spent more time pitched his Senate records, In particular, infrastructure and economic development measures he worked with Republicans, along with Democratic measures to limit the cost of insulin and other drugs for older Americans with Medicare.
But Warnock has stepped up his attacks since two women came forward in October, accusing Walker of encouraging and paying for abortions when he dated the former professional football star. Walker, who supports a nationwide abortion ban, called the claim “absurd.”
The senator’s shift came alongside polls suggesting a close race with a possible runoff vote. Georgia law requires a majority to hold office statewide, and the presence of a third-party candidate in the Senate election could drop Warnock and Walker below that threshold. I have.
“This guy says he’s in law enforcement. He’s not. At the FBI. He wasn’t.” He said he graduated from the University of Georgia. He said he was the valedictorian (of his high school class) He wasn’t… He said he had 800 employees He said he only had eight did.”
In DeKalb County, an Atlanta suburb, Warnock mocks Walker for having an honorary badge, supposedly awarded by the Georgia sheriff, as proof of his claims that he worked for years in law enforcement. did. “He literally wears his lies as a badge of honor,” Warnock told voters.
Warnock continued its aggressive attack in his hometown of Savannah on Sunday, with stops in Macon and Columbus on Monday, where he plans to attack Georgia’s largest metropolitan area beyond Atlanta. Asked why he waited so late to attack Walker directly, Warnock said in an interview that a second Walker accuser admitted to some violent tendencies in the past, but they said he was now Consequences of controlled mental illness.
Walker rejected Warnock’s criticism in a speech Thursday in Smyrna, north of Atlanta. He described himself as the more honest candidate, and said his debate with Warnock proved he was right for the job.
“I took the guy to school and I was the adult in the room,” Walker said.
“He’s talking about me,” Walker said, referring to President Obama’s visit on Oct. 28.
Mr. Walker should not claim that Mr. Warnock, pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church of Atlanta, has Christian ethics, nor should he imply that Walker does not have Christian ethics. said.
“He said I was a liar. I said, ‘No, Senator, you’re a liar,'” Walker said. make faith a major part of his pitch“You said you were going to represent Georgia and you went to Washington and decided to represent Joe Biden.”
Walker also rejected Biden’s Wednesday speech Warning of Threats to Democracy“The greatest threat to democracy is that Senator Warnock is in Washington representing the great people of Georgia,” Walker said of Biden. He’s a big threat.”
Walker has not taken questions from reporters and has not retained any public press availability since her second abortion allegation.
“There’s nothing stopping him from standing in front of the mic like I’m standing right now,” Warnock told reporters. “The people of Georgia deserve to know who he is and what he is.”
More than 2.5 million voters in Georgia voted in advance, about 20% more than those who voted early in the 2018 midterm elections.