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NORCROSS, Georgia – Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker are at odds over whether Major League Baseball’s Atlanta Braves should change their name and the controversial issue of legalized abortion.
Asked whether the World Series champion Braves should change their name amid the ongoing dispute over the longstanding use of Native American names in professional and collegiate sports, Warnock told Fox News, “I’m aware that the Braves Organization conducts talks with the Native American community. I trust that they will work through this process and come to a meaningful conclusion.”
The senator, who took questions from reporters after speaking and gathering with Korean seniors in this suburban community northeast of Atlanta, Georgia, which has a large Asian American population, also said lightheartedly, “I think I want to see the Braves win the World Series again.”
A day earlier, in an interview with Fox News Digital in Atlanta and later in a conversation with host Sean Hannity about Fox News’ “Hannity,” Walker had insisted that he didn’t want the Braves to change their name.
WHAT HERSCHEL WALKER TOLD FOX NEWS DIGITAL IN AN INTERVIEW IN ATLANTA
GOP Senate nominee Herschel Walker speaks at a roundtable with Black business leaders on September 26, 2022 in Atlanta, Georgia. Alveda King, niece of the late civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., is seen at right.
(Fox News)
“I want to ask Senator Warnock, and he needs to come out and say if he thinks they should change the name? Well I don’t,” the former college and pro football star told Hannity.
Walker also remarked, without elaborating, “I asked some Indians, and they agreed.”
The Atlanta Braves’ name and accompanying tomahawk logo have long been criticized for being offensive to Native Americans. For decades, Braves fans have performed a tomahawk chop with their arms at baseball games while chanting a battle cry.
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The controversy returned to the national spotlight Monday when the world champions visited President Joe Biden at the White House. While President Biden made no mention of the controversy in welcoming the Braves, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters, “We think it’s important to have this conversation. The voices of Native Americans and Native Americans should be the focus of conversation.”
Walker was also asked in his interview with Fox News Digital about abortion, which has become a thing of the past since the conservative-majority Supreme Court’s blockbuster motion in June, the landmark Roe v. overturning Wade’s verdict and sending the fight back to the States has gained traction.
Walker reiterated: “My thing is, I’m for life. I’m christ. I’m not going to apologize for that,” but “I think so [abortion] should be a state matter, but it is not.”
He reiterated that he would “vote” for a bill by South Carolina GOP Senator Lindsey Graham calling for a 15-week federal ban on abortion. Asked if his support for a federal ban on abortion deters the majority of Georgians, who polls oppose their state’s new restrictive abortion law, Walker disagreed, saying, “No, I’m not turning it off.”
And Walker claimed it was Warnock who was “extreme” about abortion.
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Warnock has repeatedly shown his support for women’s reproductive rights.
“I have a deep reverence for life. And I also have great respect for the election. And I happen to think that a patient’s room is too narrow and cramped for a woman, her doctor, and the United States government. That’s also so many people in the room,” Warnock told the crowd of senior supporters at a rally in Atlanta on Monday.
And on Tuesday he took aim at Walker, arguing, “My opponent wasted no time supporting a national ban, a national ban with no exceptions. So that includes rape, incest, and maternal health.”
But when asked by reporters if he would accept federal restrictions on access to abortion, Warnock simply replied: “Women have seen a basic constitutional right of theirs being undermined by an activist court for half a century.”
When asked again, Warnock replied: “I think we need to consider all options to protect this core constitutional principle.”
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Warnock, the senior pastor at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Martin Luther King Jr. used to preach, narrowly defeated GOP Sen. Kelly Loeffler in one of two Georgia Senate runoffs on Jan. 5, 2021. Republicans see him as vulnerable as he seeks a full six-year term representing the battleground state of Georgia.
Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia greets his supporters as he arrives at a Korea Senior Center in Norcross, Georgia, September 27, 2022
(Fox News)
Walker, who won a Heisman Trophy four decades ago and helped lead the University of Georgia to a national college football championship, stepped into the GOP race a year ago to face Warnock after months of support and encouragement to run for the Senate Trump, his longtime friend. Thanks to his legendary status among many in Georgia and his immense, benevolent notoriety in the Peach State, Walker captured the Republican nomination against a handful of lesser-known rivals in May.
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The Walker-Warnock race is one of only a few across the country that will likely decide whether Democrats retain their razor-thin majority or Republicans regain control of the chamber.
Paul Steinhauser is a political reporter from New Hampshire.
