At a campaign rally in Ringgold, Georgia, on Monday, former University of Georgia football star Herschel Walker argued U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock and the Democrats are taking the United States in the wrong direction.
To a crowd of about 250 in a grocery store parking lot, Walker said the incumbent Warnock is not Georgia’s senator, but President Joe Biden’s senator. The choice between the two is very easy, Walker said.
“Within two short years, y’all see where we’re at?” Walker said. “Do you see where we’re at? And this man’s asking for six years more years. (Warnock) thinks we’re crazy. We’re not electing him for six more years. We couldn’t recover from what he’s done to us right now.”
In 2021, Warnock won a special election that sent him to the U.S. Senate to represent Georgia for a partial term. Democrat Jon Ossoff also won a full Senate term in a runoff election that same year. With Vice President Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote, the Democrats effectively took control of the Senate.
(READ MORE: Senate candidate Herschel Walker rallies supporters in Ringgold)
Early voting in Georgia continues through Nov. 4, and Election Day is Nov. 8.
Warnock pushed back on the Biden Administration to keep Savannah’s Georgia Air National Guard Combat Readiness Training Center open and secure millions in funding for the Port of Savannah, said Sarafina Chitika, press secretary for the Warnock campaign, in an email.
Walker said the Democrats are criticizing him but aren’t talking about what’s happening in the nation right now. Warnock and the Democrats are too focused on race, he said. In the Bible, Walker said, God talks about people’s heart, not the color of their skin.
“Why don’t they get out of this color thing, and get into the love thing?” Walker said, adding that Democrats are trying to divide people by race to earn votes.
Walker also criticized Warnock and the Democrats for high gas prices, anti-law enforcement sentiment, teaching gender ideology in schools and weakening the military.
In their Senate debate about two weeks ago, Warnock said that just because Walker makes a claim, doesn’t mean it’s true.
“I have supported our police officers. I have called them and prayed with their families,” Warnock said at the debate.
It’s possible to support police officers, he said, while still holding them accountable.
Chitika also said Warnock advocated for investments in training for local law enforcement.
She said the senator has introduced legislation to increase funding for small law enforcement agencies and requested $400 million for a federal community policing program as well. Funding for Atlanta-area community outreach and mental health programs was also won by the senator, Chitika said.
(READ MORE: Sen. Raphael Warnock focuses on health care in Dalton, Georgia, campaign stop)
Walker said Democrats don’t know the definition of a woman and that Democrats should have learned that from the Bible.
“This is not the new normal, don’t listen to those people on the left,” Walker said. “Don’t listen to them. They’re Marxists, and they’re trying to destroy this country.”
Walker said he has risen from poverty to achieve the American dream and wants to make sure everyone else can get that dream too. He finished by saying the midterms are the most important election of our lifetime.
When asked why she was at the Walker rally, Catoosa County resident Vikki Thompson said she’s liked Walker since he was a college football star.
“I liked him (Walker) ever since football,” Thompson said. “And since he’s running for senator, why not back a Georgia boy?”
Thompson said she also likes that Walker is an ally of former President Donald Trump.
She said she’s never voted for a Democrat and wouldn’t now because of what’s going on in the country. Gas prices are “sky high,” and she hopes it can return to how it was during the Trump administration when, she said, the country ran smoothly.
Thompson is also against abortion and defunding the police.
“That’s not good, we need our police out here,” she said.
Speaking before Walker was Monica Crowley, a former U.S. Treasury official in the Trump administration and a broadcaster. She said the Nov. 8 general election wasn’t just going to be a red wave but a red tsunami that would even sweep into deep blue areas like New York.
Warnock is just a rubber stamp for the left, Crowley said, which is why Walker is needed in the Senate to help restore the prosperity of the Trump administration.
Economic uncertainty, foreign policy failures, cities in collapse and high crime aren’t the America handed over by the previous administration, Crowley said. Bringing a prosperous America back will start with the upcoming midterm election, she said.
“It is going to start right here in the Peach State, in the state of Georgia, with the election of this great man,” Crowley said.
Walker will lead the charge to stop Biden’s legislative agenda and the “insane spending,” she said, and advance an “America first” agenda.
Crowley also encouraged Georgians to volunteer as poll watchers or poll workers, and she said attorneys are also needed in case election challenges end up in court.
“We need to make this, not even a Republican tsunami,” Crowley said. “We need to make this, for the Democrats, an extinction-level event. This can’t just be a message election. This needs to be an election of annihilation.”
Contact Andrew Wilkins at awilkins@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6659. Follow him on Twitter @tweetatwilkins.