U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) said GOP candidate Herschel Walker has “crossed a line” after Walker accused the Democrat of being a negligent father.
“I know that politics is ugly,” Warnock, the father of two, said in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “People play all kinds of games, unfortunately. But Herschel Walker and his allies have crossed a line where my family is concerned.”
“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.”
At a campaign stop in Augusta earlier this week, Walker said Warnock doesn’t “keep his own kids.”
“He paid himself for child care, all that stuff – why don’t he keep his own kids?” Walker said. “Don’t have nobody keep your kids. … I keep my own even though he lied about me.”
Walker’s campaign told AJC that Warnock’s family is “fair game” since “he and his allies have no problem with Hershel’s family being attacked.”
Walker’s campaign has been steeped in controversies surrounding his own parenting after it revealed Walker had three additional children he had not publicly acknowledged and, later, his son, 22-year-old Christian Walker, heavily criticized his father. He has also been accused of paying for multiple abortions.
Warnock is currently in a custody battle with his ex-wife, Oulèye Ndoye, who has accused the pastor of neglecting to see his children during his custody days and leaving her with unpaid child care expenses.
Earlier this year, Ndoye filed for additional custody of their children so she could move them to Massachusetts as she completes a Harvard University program.
The filing also asked for an increase in Warnock’s child support payments due to his “substantial” increase in income after his 2020 runoff victory.
“My children are the two brightest stars in my universe – my reason for just about everything I do,” Warnock told AJC. “They are in my care. And they lack for nothing.”
Walker and Warnock are embroiled in a highly watched runoff after neither candidate secured 50 percent of the vote on Nov. 8. The two will face each other again on Dec. 6.