Warnock, Walker go negative in U.S. Senate runoff campaigns. What's true? What's exaggerated?

With Georgia’s U.S. Senate runoff a week away, the negative campaigning by candidates Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker is striving for new lows.

Warnock, the Democratic incumbent, is rolling out advertisements focused on his opponent’s character. Republican Herschel Walker has been beset by controversy throughout this election cycle, whether the source is odd statements made during campaign appearances, revelations about how many children he’s fathered or allegations of domestic abuse and coerced abortions.

Walker is likewise on the attack, questioning Warnock’s parenting style, his role in mismanagement of a housing complex and his position on transgender athletes.

Here’s what to know about the campaign messages flooding the airwaves from the candidates:

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What is behind the accusations about Warnock’s family life?

Warnock was accused by his then wife, Ouleye Ndoye, of running over her foot with his car following a March 2020 argument. Police investigated her claims and no charges were filed. Police bodycam footage from the incident’s aftermath shows a teary-eyed Ndoye calling Warnock “a good actor.”

The attacks on Warnock as a negligent father stem from court motions filed in the child custody case between Warnock and Ndoye.

“I want to set the record straight: My children live with me. I am present with my children in every way that a father should be, from breakfast in the morning to bedtime prayers at night. I can’t continue to let him lie about our family,” Warnock told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The criticism of Warnock for his parenting has drawn particular attention given Walker’s troubled history as a father. Walker’s eldest son, Christian, denounced his father in October for being an absentee parent and for fathering multiple children with multiple women, at least three of which have not or do not live with him. He didn't acknowledge them earlier in the campaign.

Is Walker a serial domestic abuser and did he pay for or pressure women into abortions?

Walker admits to past struggles with mental health and his ex-wife, Cindy Grossman, detailed several instances where Walker threatened her physically, including putting a gun to her head and holding a straight razor to her throat. In a protective order, filed four years after the couple divorced, Grossman claimed that Walker was “physically abusive” and showed “extremely threatening behavior” during their marriage.

More recent revelations have come from a woman who alleges Walker impregnated her and pressured her into getting an abortion. In an interview with ABC News, she claimed Walker told her she “would not be safe and that the child would not be safe.”

She added: "I felt threatened and I thought I had no choice."

The woman is the second of two to say Walker paid for her to have an abortion. Walker denies both claims, calling it “foolishness.” Walker has campaigned on an anti-abortion message and at one point favored a full ban on the procedure even in the case of rape and incest. He has since embraced Georgia’s abortion law, which prohibits the operation once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, typically around six weeks after conception.

Warnock, a Baptist minister, is a self-proclaimed “pro-choice pastor” who says an abortion decision should be between the pregnant woman and her physician.

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Does Warnock support transgender male athletes competing in women’s sports?

Walker has been campaigning alongside star college swimmer Riley Gaines, who last season competed against Lia Thomas, a transgender woman. Thomas won a national title in the 500-meter freestyle for the University of Pennsylvania and tied Gaines for fifth place in the 200-meter freestyle.

Gaines laments having to compete against a biological male, which Walker says is “unfair and wrong” in an accompanying TV ad. Walker also claims Warnock voted to allow men to compete in women’s sports, a reference to the sitting senator’s “no” vote against Republican-sponsored legislation that would strip federal funding from states, school districts and colleges that allow trangender athletes to compete.

Does Walker live in Texas or Georgia?

Tax records in Texas show Walker received a homestead exemption on a home he owns in that state. Walker is a Georgia native who lived many years in Texas, where he played professional football for the Dallas Cowboys. He registered to vote in Georgia, using a Georgia address, in August 2021 ahead of announcing his candidacy.

By law, homeowners can only claim a homestead exemption on a “principal residence.” A homestead exemption is one of many considerations in establishing residency under Georgia law.

Walker is not the first would-be senator to claim 11th-hour residence in a state prior to launching a campaign. Hillary Clinton, a Democrat, ran for a New York U.S. Senate seat in 2000 during her husband Bill Clinton’s second term as president.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Negative campaigning sets tone for US Senate runoff Warnock Walker