Top Republicans and GOP groups are sticking by Herschel Walker’s Senate campaign in Georgia after a report emerged a day earlier saying that the GOP nominee paid for a girlfriend’s abortion in 2009.
The two leading Republican groups involved in Senate races, the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the Senate Leadership Fund, both announced on Tuesday that they are not backing off and will continue to press forward in Georgia to unseat Sen. Raphael Warnock (D). They both argued that the latest revelation is nothing more than a distraction and laid blame at the feet of the media.
“Democrats are losing in Georgia and are on the verge of losing the majority, so they and their media allies are doing what they always do — attack Republicans with innuendo and lies,” Chris Hartline, an NRSC spokesman, told The Hill in a statement.
“Democrats and the media have tried to stir up nonsense about what has or hasn’t happened in Herschel Walker’s past because they want to distract from what’s happening in the present,” he continued. “Right now, Senator Warnock votes with Joe Biden 96 percent of the time, causing skyrocketing inflation, a raging border crisis, and crime in Georgia communities. Georgians can see through the nonsense from the Democrats and the media and will vote accordingly.”
Georgia, along with Nevada, is considered a true toss-up in November and is likely to help determine which party controls the upper chamber come January, and the polling says as much. According to the latest RealClearPolitics average of polls, Warnock leads by less than a percentage point.
“We are full speed ahead in Georgia. This election is about the future of the country — Herschel Walker will make things better, Raphael Warnock is making it worse. Anything else is a distraction,” said Steven Law, the head of the Senate Leadership Fund, which is supported by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
According to the Daily Beast on Monday night, Walker urged a girlfriend of his in 2009 to get an abortion after she conceived a child and reimbursed her for the medical costs.
The woman reportedly backed up her claims with a $575 receipt from an abortion clinic and a bank deposit receipt that included a photo of a signed $700 personal check from the former University of Georgia running back. He also sent along a “get well” card at the time.
The outlet also said that it corroborated the claims with a close friend of the woman who said she cared for her after the abortion.
Walker has strenuously denied the allegations and said on Monday that he plans to sue the Daily Beast. When asked by Fox News’s Sean Hannity if he remembered sending an ex-girlfriend $700, he said that he “sent money to a lot of people” because he is “generous.”
However, Christian Walker, his adult son, fired off a number of tweets critical of his father’s actions and accused him of being an absentee father.
“Every family member of Herschel Walker asked him not to run for office, because we all knew (some of) his past. Every single one. He decided to give us the middle finger and air out all of his dirty laundry in public, while simultaneously lying about it. I’m done,” he said on Monday night. “I know my mom and I would really appreciate if my father Herschel Walker stopped lying and making a mockery of us. You’re not a ‘family man’ when you left us to bang a bunch of women, threatened to kill us, and had us move over 6 times in 6 months running from your violence.”
Erick Erickson, an Atlanta-based conservative radio host, wrote on Tuesday morning that the potential impact of Walker’s alleged actions were not felt until his son started weighing in on Twitter, which continued on Tuesday morning.
The report also marks another in a string of damaging personal revelations about Walker, including his ex-wife saying that he held a gun to her head — which he has not denied — and that he fathered three children with different women that had previously not been known.
However, Republicans are standing by him with 35 days to go. Former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) told CBS News that he continues to back Walker, adding that this race is “the most vicious” of the 2022 cycle. He added that the GOP nominee is “showing remarkably positive spirit.”
“Sadly, such personal attacks — all too common in political campaigns — are a diversion from the threats to Georgian’s economic, personal, and national security, which the Democratic majority has made worse, not better,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a McConnell ally, told Politico, adding that he too is standing by the Georgia Republican.