This Georgia Senate race could turn things in Republicans’ favor

WARNING: This article contains disturbing language about alleged domestic violence.

The crowd was armed and loudly enthusiastic.

Handguns mingled with baby strollers, soccer balls and Run Herschel Run ballcaps at a rally outside a gun shop in northern Georgia on a sunny afternoon late last month.

The crowd of about 200 mostly older, mostly white Georgians made it clear that they are all counting on Republican Herschel Walker to win a seat in the US Senate this Tuesday.

The reason he’d won their admiration—and their votes? As one supporter, Helen Johnson, put it to CBC News, “Because he’s Herschel Walker.”

Indeed, the importance of Walker in this condition cannot be overstated.

His exploits as a home football star in college and later in the NFL date back decades. But in Georgia his name remains legendary. That’s what Republicans are counting on to gain control of the Senate in the upcoming midterm election, even as Walker’s campaign has been plagued by various controversies that would likely disqualify candidates in most other elections.

Walker’s campaign rallies are packed with voters wearing jerseys with his old number 34 emblazoned on them. His staff try to discourage autograph seekers, but Walker tends to sign anything handed to him after a speech. Sharpie in hand, he scribbles on trading cards, 8×10, even the white stripes of soccer balls.

CLOCK | The candidates compete in the heated Georgia Senate race:

Donald Trump’s looming influence in Georgia’s heated midterm elections

In the last few days before the US midterm elections, it is becoming clear that the influence of former US President Donald Trump is great. In Georgia, Trump-backed Republican nominee Herschel Walker has become the focus of one of the key races of the midterm elections not just because of his high-profile supporter.

Walker adored by fans, slammed by critics

As a former sports star turned political candidate, he is revered.

But those controversies continue to simmer and grow, and critics of Walker slam him for it daily.

He has acknowledged his history of violence but insists he has undergone treatment. Despite this, his ex-wife can now be seen in an anti-Walker ad campaign about the time “he put a gun to my temple and said he was going to blow my brains out”.

Walker, known in the state for his football exploits, speaks during a campaign stop in Smyrna, Georgia on Thursday. (Todd Kirkland/The Associated Press)

While Walker says he is adamantly opposed to most abortions, two women now call him a hypocrite for championing the issue and have presented evidence – which Walker denies – that he pressured (and/or paid for) them to have abortions ) did after being intimate with him.

Last month, Walker’s son called his father in a Twitter video seen by millions.

“Everything is a lie,” Christian Walker said in the Post. “He has four children, four different wives – wasn’t in the house to raise any of them. He had sex with other women.”

Walker signs a hat for a law enforcement officer at a campaign event in Carrollton, Georgia last month. (Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images)

Walker has also publicly questioned laws aimed at combating climate change, falsely claimed to be an FBI agent (he later said he was joking), called the cost of “grocery shopping” a woman’s business, and has the science of evolution demoted.

At campaign rallies attended by CBC News, Walker attacked US President Joe Biden’s economic record while warning about “Chinese fentanyl in Halloween candy” and public schools, which he says are “too awake.”

He also mocked transgender people in the US armed forces.

“They want to put pronouns in the military,” he told the crowd at that rally outside the gun store. “My pronouns [are] I’m sick of you all talking about pronouns. I don’t even know what a pronoun is.”

The crowd laughed and applauded.

The outcome of the Georgia Senate race between Walker (left) and Warnock could ultimately determine control of the Senate. (Elijah Nouvelage, Megan Varner/Getty Images)

Competition in Georgia can determine Senate control

Liberal talk show host Bill Maher has called Walker “unfit for office” and a “f-king idiot.” But for her part, conservative talk show host Dana Loesch said: “I don’t care if [Walker] paid to abort endangered baby eagles. I want control of the Senate.”

Depending on how things play out in a tiny handful of other states on Tuesday’s election night, various scenarios suggest that whichever party wins Georgia will gain overall control of the Senate.

If Walker steers the balance of power toward Republicans, it would profoundly complicate Biden’s agenda for perhaps the remainder of his term.

A number of senior Republicans have staunchly sided with Walker, despite the stories and ridicule.

Former President Donald Trump endorsed him last year.

To put it bluntly, Walker can certainly win.

Political scientist Jason Nichols, an associate professor at the University of Maryland, describes Walker as “no intellectual” and “someone easily controlled” if he wins the Georgia Senate seat.

Bishop worries about Walker’s rise because of what it signals for American democracy when Republicans now stand so firmly behind such a candidate in the name of Senate control, “because of a thirst for power, rather than independent, shrewd leadership.” Looking for. “

“Not only do I find it disappointing. I find it terrifying,” Nichols said.

Walker hugs former US President Donald Trump at a rally September 25, 2021 in Perry, Georgia. Trump endorsed Walker last year. (Ben Gray/The Associated Press)

“Democracy is on the ballot”

Walker’s opponent, incumbent Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock, has called Walker “extreme” and “a scary alternative.”

“You have to really know your stuff to do this job,” Warnock told a crowd last month.

Warnock is the first black person elected to the US Senate from Georgia and pastors the same Georgia church where civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. made his name. Warnock has campaigned for years to expand healthcare in Georgia and supports better access to abortion and same-sex marriage.

Last month, former President Barack Obama underscored what is at stake in this election and endorsed Warnock.

“Democracy is on the ballot,” Obama said. He warned the crowd that Republicans would continue to tighten abortion restrictions if they came to power.

Warnock speaks at a campaign rally in Clarkston, Georgia on Thursday. He is the first black Georgian ever elected to the US Senate. (Bob Andres/The Associated Press)

“Who cares about you, who sees you, who believes in you?” said Obama. “That’s the choice in this election.”

But Warnock is also the subject of controversy, albeit to a much lesser extent than Walker.

An anti-Warnock advert shows police bodycam video from 2020 of Warnock’s ex-wife in tears telling police he ran over her foot during an argument with his car. Police found no evidence of injuries and did not press charges.

At a rally in Augusta last week, Warnock told supporters his opponent was trying to “scandalize my name”. Warnock also urged supporters to “get out and vote — and pray” now.

Truck driver Geraldine Jordon was one of around 200 mostly African Americans who took it.

“I came here to support someone who I believe will work for me and my household,” she told CBC News. “Not [someone who] just want to try to control it to be able to control a nation of people.

But despite all the criticism of Walker, his supporters remain steadfast.

“Anybody can be forgiven for whatever they’ve done,” Walker supporter Sylvia Joyce told CBC News. “So don’t go looking for junk from a long time ago.”

Another Walker fan, Henry Desetta, said, “He’s a good Christian man.”

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