Highlights from the Walker, Warnock Georgia Senate Debate

The Georgia Senate Debate took place on Friday, giving both candidates a chance to make their case for the first and likely only time before the November 4 election.

Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock and his opponent Republican and National Football League Hall-of-Famer Herschel Walker took a few shots at each other, but the debate did not provide the fireworks many were expecting.

The most unusual exchange came during a discussion about crime. After each made comments on the issue, Warnock took a pointed shot at Walker, saying that “I’ve never pretended to be a police officer and I’ve never threatened a shootout with the police,” referring to two embarrassing incidents in Walker’s past.

The shootout comment was in reference to a February Associated Press report that in 2001, Walker threatened to shoot a police officer while being involved in a domestic disturbance call.

The police officer impersonation comment referred to a 2019 speech where Walker claimed to have spent time training in Quantico with the FBI and said that he has “been in law enforcement.” He also later claimed to have been made an honorary deputy of the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office. There is no record of Walker being in law enforcement and Cobb County would not say if he was made an “honorary deputy.”

Even if Walker has been given an “honorary deputy” badge, that hardly makes him a member of law enforcement. “Honorary deputy” is similar to the “Jr. Officer” badges that are sometimes given to children at law enforcement events and provide no power to the wearer.

Walker then broke the rules of the debate by pulling out a prop, something that resembled a police badge. The moderator admonished him for breaking the rules “you are very well aware of the rules tonight, and you have a prop, that is not allowed.” Walker, seemingly confused about the word prop, claimed that the badge wasn’t a “prop” and was real. Its authenticity was not the issue, because props in this context meant any object used to make a point.

Other major events include Warnock refusing to answer the question of if he plans to support President Biden in a potential 2024 campaign. The moderator asked for a simple yes or no on the question but Warnock would not commit either way. “I have not spent a minute thinking of what politicians should run for what in 2024.” When pressed, Warnock still refused to give a straight answer. “The people of Georgia get to decide who is going to be their senator in three days,” (Senator Warnock likely meant three weeks, the election was 21 days away at the time of the debate).

Biden was a large focus of the debate, with Walker attempting to paint Warnock as someone who works for Biden instead of the people of Georgia. He repeatedly pointed to Warnock’s voting record, saying that he voted with the President 96% of the time. That is true, though it puts Warnock in the bottom third of Democrats voting in lock-step with the President. Warnock pointed to times he pushed back against the President to get more for Georgians, specifically, he took credit for convincing the president to increase student loan forgiveness for Pell Grant recipients from $10,000 to $20,000.

Biden is not popular with Georgian voters. According to a recent Civiqs poll, only 34% of Georgia voters approved of the President’s job performance.

Warnock came off as cool and collected, but his strategy of avoiding questions invited attacks by Walker to paint him as a DC politician. Warnock not only refused the Biden question but also if he would add justices to the Supreme Court in an attempt to restore abortion rights, and also refused to answer questions about lawsuits from his ex-wife and former tenants at an apartment complex owned by Ebenezer Baptist Church where Warnock is the senior pastor.

Other Highlights:

Walker scandals: The debate mostly avoided candidate Walker’s various scandals. The only time it was referenced was early in the debate, with Walker again denying reports that he paid for an abortion.

Healthcare: Warnock advocated for Georgia to accept funds from the Affordable Care Act to expand Medicaid in the state. Walker said he would speak to hospital administrators about how to reduce costs. The moderators pointed out that 1.5 million Georgians do not have healthcare and hospitals are closing around the state.

Inflation: Walker tied inflation to Government spending, and blamed Warnock for going along with Biden’s policies. Warnock said the Inflation Reduction Act would lower drug prices, helping seniors and diabetics. Walker countered saying the bill failed to stop inflation and said “eating right” is the first step to treating diabetics and inflation was stopping that. Warnock replied that Walker was blaming diabetics.

Ukraine: Both candidates expressed support for the continued funding of the Zelensky regime.

Student Debt: As mentioned, Warnock took credit for the Pell Grant provision in Biden’s student forgiveness plan. He also said that we should lower the costs of schools to avoid this situation in ten years. Walker said that federal funding should be cut from universities that raise their prices. That proposal got some applause from the crowd.

Minimum Wage: Neither candidate expressed support for raising the federal minimum wage. The minimum wage was last raised in 2009.