Top Republicans Rally for Herschel Walker in Ailing Georgia Senate Bid

(Bloomberg) -- Senators Rick Scott and Tom Cotton campaigned alongside embattled Georgia Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker on Tuesday as he tries to reset a campaign beset by drama just weeks before Election Day.

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Scott, a Florida Republican and chair of the party’s Senate campaign arm, and Cotton, an Arkansas Republican and a potential 2024 presidential candidate, helped Walker kick off a campaign week that ends with his sole debate against Senator Raphael Warnock, the Democratic incumbent.

Over the past week, Walker, who opposes abortion rights, has been rocked by allegations that he paid for a girlfriend have the procedure and urged her to have a second one. The fallout led to one of his children taking to social media to chastise him.

Walker has denied the allegations.

The event with Scott and Cotton coincided with the last day of voter registration in Georgia. Warnock and Walker are set to debate in Savannah on Friday. Early voting in Georgia begins Monday for the Nov. 8 election.

Walker is backed by former President Donald Trump, whose super PACPAC began broadcasting ads last week to bolster the former football star and Heisman Trophy winner.

The public display of Republican Party support exemplifies Georgia’s importance for both the current election and also the 2024 presidential race. Democrats flipped both of Georgia’s Senate seats in 2021, after President Joe Biden became the first Democrat to win the state in three decades. Republicans intend to make a last stand to prevent the once-reliably Republican stronghold from becoming a swing state.

But as Walker seeks to politically weather the claims by the former girlfriend, Georgia’s top Republicans have backed off. Some have also criticized him publicly, including Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan in an Oct. 6 CNN opinion column. Walker also fired his political director last week, a sign of turmoil within the campaign.

And on Tuesday evening, the Washington Post reported that the woman said she had to push Walker to pay for the abortion in 2009. Walker’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report. The Post said the woman spoke to its reporters on condition of anonymity to protect her privacy and her loved ones.

Independent analysts rate the Senate race as a toss-up. Republicans need just a net gain of one seat to have a majority in the Senate. The party is strongly favored to take the House.

An Emerson College poll conducted between Oct. 6 and Oct. 7, after the report that Walker paid for an abortion, showed Warnock ahead 48% to 46%, with 4% of voters undecided and within the survey’s 3% margin of error.

Tuesday’s event, held in a parking lot of a shopping plaza in Carrollton, drew about 250 people, some shouting Walker’s name.

“Don’t let them come campaigning for you,” Walker said of Democrats. “Right now, you can see what they’re doing. They’ll do whatever it takes, or say whatever they have to say, because they want this seat right here.”

Walker also talked about immigration, crime, energy independence, and other issues. Walker, Cotton and Scott sought to tether Warnock to Biden, alleging profligate spending by Democrats.

Scott earlier issued a statement that Democrats are out to destroy the country and that he’s “proud to stand with Herschel Walker” to protect Georgians. Cotton tweeted that he was “excited” to be headed to Georgia to campaign with Walker.

Donald Jones, 63, of Carrollton, a property manager and the pastor of the nearby Oak Mountain Presbyterian Church led a prayer to start the event. If the allegations are true, he said, Walker “will stand before God and answer for that.”

But as a candidate, Jones said, he still supports Walker as “somebody who will stand up for the sanctity of human life, even if he is a flawed person.”

While accusations against Walker may have eroded some of his party support, there are those who remain “more interested in taking the Senate than who takes them there,” said Charles Bullock, a University of Georgia political scientist.

Warnock, who took part Sunday in the Atlanta Pride Festival, was to appear at an Atlanta community center on Tuesday. On Wednesday, he is to attend a Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration in Atlanta.

Democrats have seen erosion in their support from that key constituency in recent elections.

(Updates with Washington Post report, in ninth paragraph.)

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