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Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker holds a campaign event on Sept. 9, 2022, in Gwinnett, Ga.
Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker holds a campaign event, in Gwinnett, Ga., on Sept. 9, 2022.Megan Varner / Getty Images file

In new TV ad, Walker talks about 'redemption' and mental health 'battle'

It's the GOP Senate candidate's first ad since the Daily Beast reported that he'd had allegedly paid for an abortion for an ex-girlfriend.

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Herschel Walker, the Republican nominee for Senate in Georgia, is defending himself from attacks about his past in a new TV ad.  

“As everyone knows, I had a real battle with mental health, even wrote a book about it, and by the grace of God, I’ve overcome it,” Walker says in the ad.

He also attacks his opponent, Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., in the ad.

"Reverend Warnock is running a nasty dishonest campaign. ... Warnock's a preacher who doesn’t tell the truth. He doesn’t even believe in redemption."

Walker's words come after allegations were made in the Daily Beast this week that Walker paid for a former partner to have an abortion.

The Daily Beast later reported that the former partner is a mother of one of Walker’s children, but the candidate has repeatedly denied the allegations, which NBC News has not independently verified. 

The story has made waves because Walker has repeatedly presented himself as anti-abortion on the campaign trail, even supporting a federal abortion ban after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

The new ad has been making rounds on social media since Wednesday, when Walker's campaign posted the ad online. But AdImpact, an ad tracking firm, only captured the ad on TV for the first time Friday.