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ATLANTA — Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock voted Monday at a polling place here on the first day of early voting in battleground Georgia, and dialed up his criticism of Republican challenger and former football star Herschel Walker.
“My opponent Herschel Walker is not ready,” Warnock told reporters afterward. “The people of Georgia deserve a serious person to represent them at serious times.”
“He claimed to be a police officer. He’s not,” he said, mocking the “fake badge” that Walker flashed during their Friday debate. “Claimed to work for the FBI, clearly did not. Claimed to be a college graduate, he’s not. Claimed to be a valedictorian of his class, he was not. Claimed to have 800 employees in his business, he has eight. Claimed to have started a business that does not even exist. So I guess he expects the people of Georgia now to hallucinate and imagine that he is also a United States senator. He’s clearly not ready.”
Asked by NBC News if he believes the allegations of Walker’s past violence disqualifies him from being a senator, Warnock said his opponent has a “disturbing pattern of violence.”
“We’ve seen it in police reports. And it’s not just one woman. It’s a few,” he said. “And he has not owned up to that. And he’s blamed these issues on me — saying that I don’t believe in redemption? I’m a pastor. My whole life is steeped in the assumption that people can be redeemed. What I’ve learned about redemption is that you actually have to repent to get there.”