CARROLLTON (GA Recorder) – Herschel Walker received a mostly warm welcome Tuesday as his campaign bus swung by west Georgia with a pair of powerful conservative allies on board.
Florida Senator and National Republican Senate Committee Chairman Rick Scott and Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton joined Walker to promote his bid to replace Democrat Raphael Warnock as Georgia’s junior U.S. Senator.
The two laid a litany of troubles at the feet of Democrats Warnock and President Joe Biden, including inflation, the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and military officers receiving cultural sensitivity training. Walker, they said, would be a bulwark against what they described as irresponsible Washington spending.
“If you want to vote for a man who believes America is a great country, a man who has overcome great adversity, a man who wants to bring the people of Georgia together, and a man who believes our best days can be ahead of us, well, then you should vote for the next U.S. senator from the great state of Georgia Herschel Walker,” Scott said.
Walker echoed their message and gave the audience a call to action ahead of early voting, which begins Oct. 17.
“I say what we’ve got to do is get out in November and vote,” he said. “What we’ve got to do is tell ten of your friends to get out of there in November and vote, and tell ten of their friends, tell ten of their friends. It’s time for us to take this country back, or there won’t be anything left. Two years is enough of this. High inflation, crime, wide open borders, unhappiness.”
Scott and Cotton’s support is the latest sign of Republican solidarity following the publication of new allegations that Walker paid for an abortion and was violent toward his family, allegations Walker denies.
A poll released Wednesday paid for by the Georgia News Collaborative and conducted by the University of Georgia finds Warnock gaining ground over Walker among women and Black voters. The poll, which was mostly conducted before the report, gave Warnock a slight lead, 46.4% to 43.4%, a shift from September when Walker led 45.8% to 42.2%.
Walker did not address the allegations, and Scott and Cotton deflected questions about their potential impact in a brief press conference after the rally, arguing that Georgians will vote for Republicans to fix the ailing economy.
“Georgians gave him, on a trial run, if you will, two years as their senator, and he has failed,” Cotton said. “He has been a lapdog for Joe Biden and the Democrats, voting with Joe Biden 96% of the time, and Georgians want a senator that will champion them, and that’s what Herschel Walker will provide them.”
A small group of protesters stationed near the rally disagreed. Timothy Ballard, a Carroll County resident and member of the local Democratic party, was among those waving signs at passing cars. He said he cannot understand why his Republican neighbors support Walker in spite of all the allegations against him.
“I was raised Baptist,” he said. “I can’t get my mind around the fact that these people who call themselves Christian support this kind of stuff, and they do it under the name of redemption. That’s not what this is.”
Warnock, who has been holding his own campaign events around the state, spent Tuesday campaigning in Atlanta. Democrats criticized the Walker campaign for accepting the support of Scott, who has called for cuts to Social Security and Medicare.
“Walker’s embrace of Rick Scott — and his disastrous plan to slash Medicare and Social Security — highlights just how much is at stake for Georgians in this U.S. Senate race,” said Dan Gottlieb, spokesman for the Democratic Party of Georgia, in a statement. “While Rev. Warnock works to cut health care costs and support Georgia seniors, Senate Republicans are only sticking by Walker because he would be a rubber stamp for their harmful, benefit-slashing agenda.”
