Walker and Sen. Warnock Bicker Over Terms of Debate in Georgia

Speaking to an enthusiastic crowd on Sept. 8, Republican challenger Herschel Walker needled his opponent, the incumbent Democratic Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock, about what Walker framed as Warnock’s unwillingness to debate him.

“The . . . big contrast between the two of us, and … You may not have heard this. The man is scared to debate me. Y’all hear? … No, he don’t want to debate me. I told him to show up October the fourteenth in Savannah, his hometown, and the man is still running. But he don’t know I can catch him,” Walker said, drawing a big laugh from the crowd, many old enough to remember when Walker, better known locally as a Georgia Bulldogs football player, before going on to an illustrious athletic career that included pro football, track, mixed martial arts, and the Olympics.

One major forecaster, Real Clear Politics, shows Walker averaging a half a percentage point ahead of Warnock and rates the race a toss-up. The last three polls listed by different firms, all in late August or early September, have shown Walker ahead variously by 1 to 3 percentage points, within the margin of error. One of those polling firms, Fox 5/InsiderAdvantage, in late July showed Warnock ahead by 4 points, and he led Walker in nearly every poll listed since April. 

Who’s been dodging a debate with whom in this closely watched Senate race is a matter of contention. The two camps have dickered over whether to debate at all, over how many debates to have, where to have them, with which sponsors, and in what format.

Warnock’s camp used a sports metaphor of its own in a press release on Sept. 7 regarding the debates.

Georgia Democratic Senate candidate Rev. Raphael Warnock speaks at an Augusta canvass launch block

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