Warnock, Walker get personal in last-minute message before midterm election
Walker, Warnock continue campaigning full steam ahead
It is down to the wire for Georgia's candidates for senate to make their final pitches to voters in the last weekend before Election Day. Incumbent democratic Senator Raphael Warnock rallied supporters in Snellville, while republican Herschel Walker was near UGA's campus to hold a gameday rally.
With the control of the U.S. Senate considered a toss-up, the eyes of the country have turned to Georgia as both candidates make one final push before Election Day.
The Georgia matchup could help determine which party controls the Senate for the final two years of Biden’s term. The chamber is now divided 50-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris giving Democrats the tie-breaking vote.
Republican Herschel Walker made a stop in his old stomping grounds in Athens over the weekend. The former college and professional football star and first-time candidate encouraged every Georgian to vote.
"If you haven't voted, get out and vote. If your friends haven't voted, tell them to get out and vote. Tell them to make 10 friends and get out and vote. If you don't have no friends, make some friends," Walker said.
The race has remained tight in recent weeks, with both candidates intensifying their critiques of each other as they get closer to the finish line.
In Snellville, Democrat Sen. Raphael Warnock said that Walker was "not ready" for high elected office.
(Elijah Nouvelage and Megan Varner/Getty Images)
"You can't just roll up out of bed one morning and decide to be a United States senator. You have to know some stuff to do this job, and you have to know the people, Warnock said.
Warnock has hammered Walker as a "pathological liar" who has exaggerated his business, academic, professional and philanthropic achievements and been accused of violence against his family members and of paying for girlfriends’ abortions despite his public opposition to the procedure.
Asked why he’d waited so late to attack Walker directly, Warnock said it was in part because the second Walker accuser said in an interview that she "felt threatened" by Walker, who has admitted some violent tendencies in his past but said they were the result of mental illness that he now has under control.
Walker, who denies he’s ever paid for any abortions, is sticking to an argument he’s made for months: that Warnock is a rubber stamp for President Joe Biden and a Democratic congressional majority that Walker blames for inflation, rising crime and a continued flow of immigrants across the U.S. border with Mexico.
"He talked about I’m not ready. No, you’re not ready," Walker answered Thursday in suburban Atlanta. "Because you either voted with Joe Biden 96% of the time, or you had no clue what you were doing. You pick which one you want — no clue of what you’re doing or you voted with him 96% of the time which is headed in the wrong direction."
More than 2.5 million Georgia voters cast advanced ballots, about 20% more than the number who voted early for the 2018 midterms.
According to the latest Fox News poll, Warnock has a slight edge on Walker heading into the midterm election Tuesday. But with such a tight race, a runoff can't be counted out.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.