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Phillies To Sign Taijuan Walker

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One day after landing Trea Turner on a stunning 11-year contract, the Phillies have bolstered their rotation by agreeing to a four-year deal with free-agent right-hander Taijuan Walker, Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports (Twitter links). MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo adds that Walker, a client of the Boras Corporation, will be guaranteed $72MM on the deal.

Walker, 30, steps into a deep and talented rotation headlined by co-aces Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola. He’ll join lefty Ranger Suarez in the third and fourth spots of a rotation whose fifth starter has yet to be determined. Philadelphia president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said earlier this offseason that he aimed to sign one veteran starter and leave a starting job open for one of the Phillies’ many in-house options — a list that currently includes left-hander Bailey Falter and top prospects Andrew Painter, Mick Abel and Griff McGarry.

The Phils could yet add some further depth, but based on Dombrowski’s earlier comments and the fact that they’ve committed a combined $372MM to Turner and Walker in the past day, it seems unlikely that another high-profile addition is in store. In the wake of agreeing to terms with Turner, Dombrowski voiced a desire to add a mid-rotation arm and to add a back-end reliever — ideally without signing a free agent who’d turned down a qualifying offer. The terms of Walker’s four-year deal have exceeded even the most bullish of expectations, but he nevertheless checks the former of those two boxes, ostensibly setting the stage for the Phillies to shift their sights to the bullpen market.

Walker, a once-elite pitching prospect who pitched just 14 innings from 2017-18 due to shoulder surgery and Tommy John surgery, has quickly shaken the “injury-prone” label once associated with his name. Since signing a one-year deal to return to the Mariners in advance of the 2020 season, the 6’4″, 235-pound righty has made a nearly full slate of starts: 11 games in the 60-game 2020 season followed by consecutive seasons of 29 starts with the Mets in 2021-22.

Along the way, Walker has pitched to a 3.80 ERA with a 21.5% strikeout rate, a 7.8% walk rate and 43.4% ground-ball rate in a total of 369 2/3 innings. While he’s hardly a flamethrower, Walker sits 93-94 mph with his four-seamer and complements that heater with a four-pitch mix of secondary offerings: splitter, sinker, slider and a more seldom-used curveball. He’s only averaged a bit more than 5 1/3 innings per start in recent years, but some of that could well be a function of the Mets preferring to keep him healthy.

While many teams are reluctant to allow starters to turn a lineup over three times, Walker’s third-time-through-the-order splits are actually fairly strong. Since 2020, when facing an opponent for the third time in a game, Walker has yielded only a .232/.303/.391 batting line. That translates to a .303 wOBA that’s tied with one of his new rotation-mates, Nola, for 37th among 132 starting pitchers in that three-year period.

Solid as Walker’s past few seasons have been, the $72MM guarantee he secured on his new contract remains a fairly eye-popping number. It’s been a bull market for starting pitchers thus far, to say the least, but an $18MM annual value over a four-year term represents a seismic step forward in the market for mid-rotation arms. Walker undoubtedly benefited from his relative youth and a lack of a qualifying offer, but guarantees of this size for a pitcher of this caliber, while not unprecedented, are quite rare. Moreover, while we’ve seen starters of this ilk land guarantees in this range in the past — the Royals signed Ian Kennedy for $70MM, and the Marlins inked Wei-Yin Chen for $80MM — they’ve typically been spread out over a five-year term. Precedent for an AAV of this magnitude, over a relatively long-term deal, for this caliber of pitcher is scarce.

None of that is a knock on Walker, who’s pitched well in his three years since returning from that pair of seasons lost to injury. And, if Walker can continue to pitch at a pace commensurate with his 2022 output in particular, he’ll end up justifying the deal. That said, he’s reached 150 innings only four times in his Major League career and only twice logged a sub-4.00 ERA in a 162-game campaign, so expecting a replica of his 2022 output — particularly in light of a shaky batted-ball profile — would be quite optimistic.

The Phillies, however, needed some stability with Kyle Gibson, Zach Eflin and Noah Syndergaard all reaching free agency, and the prices for arms this winter have been strong. Eflin, for instance, landed a $13.33MM AAV in a three-year deal with the low-budget Rays of all teams, and did so on the heels of a season in which he pitched just 75 2/3 innings. Gibson, who turned 35 in October and yielded a 5.05 ERA in 31 starts for the Phillies, still secured a $10MM guarantee on a one-year deal in Baltimore. The price of average-or-better innings — and the price for pitchers who can reliably provide those innings — looks to have increased in the early stages of the newly brokered 2022-26 collective bargaining agreement.

From a payroll vantage point, adding Walker will boost the Phillies to a projected $223.5MM in bottom-line payroll next year, per Roster Resource (assuming an even distribution of the salaries). Moreover, Walker’s $18MM AAV will push the Phillies into luxury-tax territory for what’ll now be a second straight season. They currently project at $235MM, just $2MM north of the $233MM barrier, but it seems fair to expect further additions will be on the horizon — in the bullpen at the very least. As a second-time offender, the Phils will pay a 30% overage on the first $20MM by which they exceed that $233MM line, and they’ll be on the hook for a 42.5% penalty for any overages between $20-40MM.

That seems to matter little to owner John Middleton, who just saw his Phillies fall to the World Series champion Astros in a competitive six-game affair. With Nola set to become a free agent next winter, the 2023 campaign could be the last time he and Wheeler comprise the dynamic one-two punch atop the Philadelphia rotation. Wheeler’s contract is up after the 2024 season, and J.T. Realmuto will turn 32 before Opening Day 2023. The time to win in Philadelphia is now, and in very on-brand fashion, their aggressive owner and similarly aggressive president of baseball operations are making high-priced, straightforward upgrades via the free-agent market to bolster the franchise’s hopes while this elite core is still together and still in its prime.



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Warnock or Walker? Georgia runoff to settle last Senate seat

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ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia voters on Tuesday are set to decide the final Senate contest in the country, choosing between Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican football legend Herschel Walker after a four-week runoff blitz that has drawn a flood of outside spending to an increasingly personal fight.

This year’s runoff has lower stakes than the two in 2021, when victories by Warnock and fellow Georgia Democrat Jon Ossoff gave Democrats control of the Senate. The outcome of Tuesday’s contest will determine whether Democrats have an outright 51-49 Senate majority or control a 50-50 chamber based on Vice President Kamala Harris’ tiebreaking vote.

The runoff brings to a close a bitter fight between Warnock, the state’s first Black senator and the senior minister of the Atlanta church where Martin Luther King Jr. preached, and Walker, a former University of Georgia football star and political novice who has waged his bid in the mold of former President Donald Trump.

A victory for Warnock would solidify Georgia’s status as a battleground heading into the 2024 presidential election. A win for Walker, however, could be an indication that the Democratic gains in the state might be somewhat limited, especially given that Georgia Republicans swept every other statewide contest last month.

In that election, Warnock led Walker by about 37,000 votes out of almost 4 million cast but fell shy of a majority, triggering the second round of voting. About 1.9 million votes already have been cast by mail and during early voting, an advantage for Democrats whose voters more commonly cast ballots this way. Republicans typically fare better on voting done on Election Day, with the margins determining the winner.

Last month, Walker, 60, ran more than 200,000 votes behind Republican Gov. Brian Kemp after a campaign dogged by intense scrutiny of his past, meandering campaign speeches and a bevy of damaging allegations, including claims that he paid for two former girlfriends’ abortions — accusations that Walker has denied.

Warnock, whose victory in 2021 was in a special election to serve out the remainder of GOP Sen. Johnny Isakson’s term, sounded a confident note Monday during a packed day of campaigning. He predicted that he had convinced enough voters, including independents and moderate Republicans who supported Kemp, that he deserves a full term.

“They’ve seen that I will work with anybody that helps me to do good work for the people of Georgia,” said the 53-year-old senator. “I think they’re going to get this right. They know this race is about competence and character.”

Walker campaigned Monday with his wife, Julie, greeting supporters and offering thanks rather than his usual campaign speech and full-throated attacks on Warnock.

“I love y’all, and we’re gonna win this election,” he said at a winery in Ellijay, comparing it to championships he won as an athlete. “I love winning championships.

Warnock’s campaign has spent about $170 million on the campaign, far outpacing Walker’s nearly $60 million, according to their latest federal disclosures. But Democratic and Republican party committees, along with other political action committees, have spent even more.

The senator has paired his push for bipartisanship with an emphasis on his personal values, buoyed by his status as senior pastor of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church. And, beginning with the closing stretch before the Nov. 8 general election, Warnock added withering takedowns of Walker, using the football star’s rocky past to argue that the political newcomer was “not ready” and “not fit” for high office.

Walker, who used his athletics fame to coast to the GOP nomination, has sought to portray Warnock as a yes-man for President Joe Biden. Walker has sometimes made the attack in especially personal terms, complete with accusing Warnock of having his “back bent” and “being on his knees, begging” at the White House — a searing charge for a Black challenger to level against a Black senator about his relationship with a white president.

A multimillionaire businessman, Walker has inflated his philanthropic activities and business achievements, including claiming that his company employed hundreds of people and grossed tens of millions of dollars in sales annually, even though later records indicate he had eight employees and averaged about $1.5 million a year. He has suggested that he’s worked as a law enforcement officer and said he graduated college, though he has done neither.

Walker was also forced to acknowledge during the campaign that he had fathered three children out of wedlock whom he had never before spoken about publicly — in direct conflict with Walker’s yearslong criticism of absentee fathers and his calls for Black men, in particular, to play an active role in their kids’ lives.

His ex-wife has detailed violent acts, saying Walker once held a gun to her head and threatened to kill her. Walker has never denied those specifics and wrote of his violent tendencies in a 2008 memoir that attributed the behavior to mental illness.

Warnock has countered with his individual Senate accomplishments, touting a provision he sponsored to cap insulin costs for Medicare patients while reminding voters that Republicans blocked his larger idea to cap those costs for all insulin-dependent patients. He hailed deals on infrastructure and maternal health care forged with Republicans Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida, mentioning those GOP colleagues more than he did Biden, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer or other Democrats in Washington.

After the general election, Biden, who has struggled with low approval ratings, promised to help Warnock in any way he could, even if it meant staying away from Georgia. Bypassing the president, Warnock decided instead to campaign with former President Barack Obama in the days before the runoff election.

For his part, Walker was endorsed by Trump but avoided campaigning with him until the campaign’s final day: The pair conducted a conference call Monday with supporters, according to a Republican National Committee spokesperson.

Walker’s candidacy is the GOP’s last chance to flip a Senate seat this year. Dr. Mehmet Oz of Pennsylvania, Blake Masters of Arizona, Adam Laxalt of Nevada and Don Bolduc of New Hampshire, all Trump loyalists, already lost competitive Senate races that Republicans once considered part of their path to a majority.

Walker has differentiated himself from Trump in a notable way. Trump has spent two years falsely claiming that his loss in Georgia and nationally was fraudulent, despite the fact that numerous federal and local officials, a long list of courts, top former campaign staffers and even his own attorney general have all said there is no evidence of the fraud he alleges.

At his lone debate against Warnock in October, Walker was asked whether he’d accept the results even if he lost. He replied with one word: “Yes.”

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Desperate GOP Finds Solution for Dopey ‘Herschel Walker’ – Rolling Stone

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Saturday Night Live‘s last episode before the Georgia Senate runoff began with concerned Republicans in Congress figuring out what to do with candidate Herschel Walker in order to boost their chances of capturing the Democratic-held seat.

The trio of James Austin Johnson as Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Mikey Day as Sen. John Cornyn and Cecily Strong as Sen. Marsha Blackburn met for a discussion with Walker, played by Kenan Thompson, who promptly addressed the Kentucky senator as “Mitch McDonalds.”

“I’m sorry I’m late,” Thompson began. “I was having too much fun in that free merry go round y’all got out front.”

“That’s a revolving door, Herschel. Have a seat,” Johnson replied.

When Strong stressed the importance of the runoff race against Sen. Raphael Warnock, Thompson appeared confident.

“Well, I’m good at those. My ex-wife said all I do is run off,” he said, alluding to the multiple reports of Walker’s less than stellar relationship history.

“The election is this Tuesday,” Johnson reminded him. “They’ve already started counting votes by mail.”

“Right,” Thompson responded. “But you got to remember: they still got to count votes by female.”

After Thompson made other gaffe-like comments reminiscent of actual quotations from Walker, like about the differences between vampires and werewolves, the three senators held a private meeting by tossing a blanket over Walker’s head so he could fall asleep “like a parakeet.”

“So just to be clear, our last hope to win this year is Herschel Walker?” Day asked incredulously.

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The group’s “Plan B,” it turns out, was Johnson luring Thompson into what was once his panic room, shutting the door behind him — “just ’til Election Day.”

“Why am I already in there?” Thompson asked, unaware that he was looking at a mirror.



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‘Saturday Night Live’ Cold Open Stings Herschel Walker With His Own Words As He Faces Georgia Senate Runoff – Deadline

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The Saturday Night Live cold open used Herschel Walker’s own slip ups and bizarre words against him to skewer his Senate bid, as the Republican Senate candidate in Georgia faces off against Democrat Raphael Warnock.

In real life, Walker’s post-Election Day runoff has been marked by his comments about vampires and werewolves, as well as a slip-up that was a bit Freudian given the allegations and revelations that have emerged since the football star entered the political arena.

In the skit, Walker (Kenan Thompson) is visiting the office of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (James Austin Johnson), as he and other colleagues are anxious for any kind of win after Republican hopes of retaking the majority were dashed in the most recent midterms. But the seasoned politicians have to contend with a candidate, Walker, who seems to be testing how much voters will accept when it comes to lack of qualifications. In the skit, Walker first refers to McConnell as “Mitch McDonalds.”

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (Cecily Strong) tells Walker, “The priority now is to get out the vote because you have got this big runoff coming up.”

Walker responds, “Oh, well, I am good at those. My ex wife said all I do is run off.”

At one point, Walker tells McConnell & co., “I’m feeling very confident about this erection.”

“You mean, election?” McConnell asks him.

“I do not,” Walker responds.

Walker really did have such a slip up on the campaign trail. And later in the skit, the SNL writers took aim at Walker’s reference to vampires and werewolves in a campaign speech, something that Warnock’s campaign has used in campaign ads.

“Maybe in the final push, let’s lay low and focus on the message,” Blackburn tells Walker.

“Exactly. Just like Kanye,” Walker responds.

“No. No. The issues people care about — inflation, crime,” Blackburn says.

“Vampires, werewolves. They’re scared of the Geico gecko. We’re going to be looking at all of that,” Walker tells her.

As Walker goes on, McConnell eventually comes up with his Hail Mary pass — a “Plan B.” That is to get Walker into his “panic room.” “It’s all yours, just until Election Day. … Got everything you need in there.”

“It’s only for a few days,” McConnell tells him, before the skit ended, rather abruptly.

Thompson appeared as Walker and Johnson as McConnell earlier this season during a Weekend Update segment. This time, in using some of Walker’s own words, the skit had some shades to the pre-2008 SNL election skit featuring Tina Fey as Sarah Palin. That skit using some of Palin’s real comments from a disastrous CBS News interview with Katie Couric, reinforcing concerns that the GOP vice presidential nominee was not qualified for the job.

Watch the skit above.



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Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker described himself as living in Texas during 2022 campaign speech

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CNN
 — 

Georgia Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker, facing renewed and growing questions about his residency in the final week of the runoff campaign, described himself during a campaign speech in January as living in Texas and said he decided to run for Georgia’s Senate seat while at his Texas “home,” according to a CNN KFile review of his campaign speeches.

Georgia Democrats have called for an investigation by state officials into Walker’s residency after CNN’s KFile reported last week that Walker was getting a tax break in Texas intended for a primary residence, possibly running afoul of Texas tax law and some rules for establishing Georgia residency for voting and running for office.

“I live in Texas,” Walker said in January of this year, when speaking to University of Georgia College Republicans. Walker was criticizing Democrats for not visiting the border when he made the comments. “I went down to the border off and on sometimes,” he said.

Earlier in the speech, Walker said he decided to run for Georgia’s Senate seat while at his Texas home after seeing the country divided.

“Everyone asks me, why did I decide to run for a Senate seat? Because to be honest with you, this is never something I ever, ever, ever thought in my life I’d ever do,” said Walker. “And that’s the honest truth. As I was sitting in my home in Texas, I was sitting in my home in Texas, and I was seeing what was going on in this country. I was seeing what was going on in this country with how they were trying to divide people.”

The Georgia Republican is heading into a runoff election against Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock on December 6. Walker and his campaign have so far not commented to CNN or others on the reporting of the tax break or questions about his residency.

On Monday, The Atlanta-Journal Constitution reported that Georgia authorities have been urged in a complaint to investigate Walker’s residency. Georgia Democrats in a statement called for an immediate investigation of Walker’s residency, and Congresswoman Nikema Williams, the chairwoman of the Democratic Party of Georgia, also asked authorities to see if Walker lied about living in Georgia.

“The Georgia Bureau of Investigations and the Georgia Attorney General’s office must immediately investigate whether Herschel Walker lied about being a Georgia resident,” Williams said.

A CNN KFile review of some of Walker’s media appearances and events from 2021 and 2022 finds Walker appeared on Fox News and other conservative media from his Texas home at least four times after announcing his candidacy for Georgia’s Senate seat.

The interviews at his Texas home took place twice in September 2021 and in February and March of 2022.

Before announcing, all of Walker’s media appearances on Fox News and on other conservative media, around 20 in total, took place in Texas.

Georgia Gov. Kemp asked if Herschel Walker shares his values. Hear his reply

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Entertainment

Walker, Texas Ranger, Die Hard Star Was 66 – Deadline

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Actor and academic Clarence Gilyard Jr, known for roles in such TV series as Walker, Texas Ranger and Matlock, as well as films including Die Hard and Top Gun, has died. The University of Nevada, Las Vegas’ College of Fine Arts, where Gilyard was a film and theater professor, shared the news of his passing.  No cause of death was given. He was 66.

Gilyard’s career spanned more than 30 years in film, television and theater. His first movie role was as Sundown in the original Top Gun (1986), and he later made a lasting impression in 1989’s Die Hard as wise-cracking computer whiz baddie Theo.

On television, Gilyard co-starred opposite Andy Griffith in legal drama Matlock from 1989-1993, appearing in 85 episodes as private investigator Conrad McMasters. Then, from 1993-2001, he starred with Chuck Norris as Jimmy Trevette in CBS’ Walker, Texas Ranger.

Gilyard was born in 1955 in Moses Lake, Washington and later attended high school in California. He earned a BA in Theatre Arts from California State University, moving to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career in the late 70s. 

After Walker, Texas Ranger, Gilyard took a sabbatical from acting and completed an MFA in Theatre Performance at Southern Methodist University, later joining the UNLV College of Fine Arts. 

In 2020, Gilyard reprised the role of Die Hard’s Theo in a super-sized commercial for Advanced Auto Parts celebrating its acquisition of the DieHard battery brand. The advert featured Bruce Willis’ legendary hero John McClane as well as cameos by De’voreaux White, who played limo driver Argyle, and Gilyard. At the time, Gilyard told Nevada Public Radio the experience had been “surreal.”

Said UNLV Dean Nancy J. Uscher of Gilyard, “His students were deeply inspired by him, as were all who knew him. He had many extraordinary talents and was extremely well-known in the university through his dedication to teaching and his professional accomplishments.

“His generosity of spirit was boundless – he was always ready to contribute to projects and performances however possible. We remember Clarence with joy and gratitude for all he contributed to the College of Fine Arts, the UNLV community, and, through his impressive personal achievements, to the world.”

Added, UNLV film chair Heather Addison, “Professor Gilyard was a beacon of light and strength for everyone around him at UNLV. Whenever we asked him how he was, he would cheerfully declare that he was ‘Blessed!’ But we are truly the ones who were blessed to be his colleagues and students for so many years. We love you and will miss you dearly, Professor G!”



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Early voting begins in some Georgia counties as Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker sprint to December 6 runoff

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CNN
 — 

A week-long early voting period begins Saturday in some Georgia counties as Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker enter a week-and-a-half, post-Thanksgiving sprint to their December 6 runoff election.

Unlike the 2021 runoffs, control of the Senate is not on the line, with Democrats having won 50 seats already and Vice President Kamala Harris giving the party a tie-breaking vote.

However, the stakes remain high: A Warnock victory would give Democrats the majority outright, rather than requiring the power-sharing agreement that is now in place. Democrats would have the majority on committees, allowing them to advance President Joe Biden’s nominees more easily.

Georgia’s Supreme Court delivered Warnock a victory Wednesday, allowing counties to offer early voting on Saturday. Democrats said they expected as many as 22 counties to do so – some in heavily populated areas around Atlanta, including DeKalb and Fulton, as well as Chatham County, home of Savannah.

That ruling followed a legal battle triggered by Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s interpretation of the state’s 2021 voting law. He said the new law restricted weekend voting immediately after holidays.

That 2021 law cut in half the timeline for runoff elections, to four weeks, and limited the early voting window to a minimum of five days rather than the minimum of 16 days that had been in place when Democrats won two Senate runoffs in the state in January 2021.

As many as 22 of the state’s 159 counties let voters cast their ballots Saturday.

At a polling site in Atlanta, Boston College student Emma Demilio said she probably wouldn’t have been able to vote in person if the early voting sites hadn’t opened.

“This is kind of the only time that I’m in Georgia and able to vote. I leave tomorrow, so I was really happy I was able to get it in,” she said, adding that she may have tried to scramble for an absentee ballot.

Warnock continues to outraise Walker as they enter the final stretch.

Warnock raised nearly $52.2 million from October 20 through November 16, a period covering the end of the general election and roughly the first week of the runoff. Walker collected $20.9 million in that time, according to his campaign’s filings with the Federal Election Commission. Warnock ended the period with more than $29.7 million remaining in the bank, more than three times the $9.8 million left in the coffers of his rival.

Warnock is set to bring in a top Democratic surrogate: Former President Barack Obama is slated to travel to Atlanta on Thursday for a rally ahead of the final day of early voting.

So far, Obama is the only president past or present slated to visit Georgia ahead of the runoff.

Neither President Joe Biden, to whom Walker’s campaign has tried to latch Warnock, nor former President Donald Trump, who was in office when Republicans lost two Senate runoffs two years ago, have scheduled trips to the state. On Saturday, Warnock appeared with Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) at a rally in Sandy Springs, just outside of Atlanta.

Trump allies, including Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, have been out in force for Walker, the former president himself has not campaigned with the candidate he recruited.

Other Republicans, meanwhile, are rallying around Walker, with the Senate Leadership Fund, the super PAC aligned with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, pumping more than $10 million into the race since the general election.

In addition to the new influx of outside spending, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, who cruised to re-election earlier this month, made his first appearance with Walker on the trail after stiff-arming the former football great throughout the fall.

Kemp defeated a primary challenger backed by Trump in May and then outpaced Walker by more than 200,000 votes in the general election – a sign both of his crossover appeal to moderate Democrats and Walker’s difficulties consolidating Republicans.

Still, Democrats said they doubted Kemp could rescue Walker in a runoff election in which Walker is the only Republican on the ballot.

“There’s tons of folks that voted for Raphael Warnock and Brian Kemp,” said Jason Carter, the 2014 Democratic nominee for governor and grandson of former President Jimmy Carter.

He called Warnock a “unique figure,” noting that he “got more votes than Herschel Walker and he got more votes than any other Democrat.”

“People appreciate him. And they think of him as Raphael Warnock first, and as his political party and all that other stuff second,” Carter said.

A new potential flashpoint in the runoff election emerged Wednesday. The Georgia Supreme Court, in a separate legal battle, also reinstated the state’s six-week abortion ban.

It was a policy victory for the Republicans who had enacted that ban and defended it in court, but one that could come at a political cost, reviving the backlash over the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade that energized Democrats and swung moderate voters in their favor on the party’s way to a surprisingly strong showing in this year’s midterm elections.

In the midterms, according to CNN exit polls, 28% of Georgia voters said abortion was the most important issue to their vote – second only to inflation at 37%.

Of those who identified abortion as the most important issue, 77% backed Warnock, compared to 21% who voted for Walker – a reversal of inflation, an issue that favored Walker by a 45 percentage point margin.

Fifty-three percent of Georgia voters said abortion should be legal in all or most cases, and among those voters, 75% backed Warnock. Of the 43% who said it should be illegal in all or most cases, 87% backed Walker.

Already, both parties have pumped more than $40 million into television advertising in the runoff. Democratic groups have spent nearly $25 million, while GOP groups have spent nearly $16 million, according to the ad tracking firm AdImpact.

In an effort to unite Republican factions, a Walker super PAC is sending out mailers touting Kemp’s support and trying to tie Warnock to Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams. “You stopped Stacey. Now reject Warnock,” they read.

“Who do you want to fight for you in the United States Senate? Do you want a guy that represents our values like Herschel Walker, or do you want a guy who’s stood with Joe Biden 96% of the time?,” said Kemp, borrowing a familiar attack from Walker, at a rally last weekend in Cobb County.

Kemp also echoes that line of attack in a new television ad launched by SLF. The governor and McConnell’s group have are also linking up for get out the vote efforts. SLF is boosting Kemp’s state operation, which has been pivoted to help Walker, with a $2 million cash injection.

Warnock’s campaign, too, is trying to win over Republicans who effectively chose Kemp over Trump.

A new ad from the Warnock campaign features a woman who says she voted for Kemp this year and describes herself as a lifelong Republican, but goes on to say she won’t support Walker in the runoff because of his “lack of character.”

Warnock has also campaigned on what should be some of Walker’s safest territory: his hometown. At an event in Wrightsville, where Walker played his high school football, Warnock asked voters to separate the sports hero from the political candidate.

“I saw what your favorite son did on the football field. I don’t mind giving credit where credit is due. That brother could razzle dazzle you on that football field. He created a lot of excitement and did a lot for the great University of Georgia. And he deserves credit for that,” Warnock said. “But tonight, we’re on a different field.”

At the same time, the Republican has faced some backlash over an ad of his own – alongside University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines, who has appeared with Walker before and competed with transgender swimmer Lia Thomas, who became a focus of debate surrounding trans women’s participation in sports and has frequently been attacked in conservative media.

“For more than a decade, I worked so hard. Four a.m. practices to be the best. But my senior year, I was forced to compete against a biological male,” Gaines says in the ad.

The spot was released in the days after a gunman allegedly targeted the LGBTQ community at a gay club in Colorado. One of the five people killed was a trans man.

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Second woman renews accusation that Walker pressured her to have an abortion

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A second woman who accused Georgia Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker of pressuring her to have an abortion on Tuesday criticized the former football player for dismissing her claims and called for him to publicly meet with her ahead of the Dec. 6 runoff election.

The woman, identified as Jane Doe, participated in a news conference with high-profile attorney Gloria Allred, offering more details of what she says was a years-long affair with Walker that resulted in her becoming pregnant in 1993. The woman first came forward in late October after another former girlfriend of Walker’s accused him of pressuring and paying for her to have an abortion. Walker has denied allegations that he paid for abortions.

Speaking on Nov. 22, a woman identified as Jane Doe said that Georgia Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker pressured her into having an abortion. (Video: The Washington Post)

The woman said she decided to speak out again and offer more evidence of their relationship after seeing Walker dismiss her allegations and suggest he didn’t know who she could be. Her remarks come two weeks before the Georgia runoff between Walker and Democratic Sen. Raphael G. Warnock.

“Herschel, I never thought you would deny knowing me or our relationship,” she said in the news conference. “Are you really willing to do anything, including lying to the voters in Georgia, to become a senator?

“Do you have the guts to meet with me in person in public?” added the woman, who was visibly emotional and crying throughout the news conference. “Look me in the eye and tell me to my face that you don’t know me — and that none of what I just said is true. I’m looking forward to your response.” The woman said she would be willing to travel to Georgia to meet with Walker.

Walker’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A second woman on Oct. 26 accused Georgia Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker of pressuring her to have an abortion during their years-long affair. (Video: The Washington Post)

The abortion allegations have drawn much attention as Walker has campaigned as a staunch opponent of abortions, with no exceptions. Last month, he sought to soften his stance during a debate with Warnock, saying he agrees with Georgia’s restrictive abortion law, which allows exceptions for rape, incest and to save the life of the mother. The law, which bans abortions as early as six weeks, was overturned last week by a Fulton County Superior Court judge. The state of Georgia is appealing the ruling.

“I’m done with this foolishness. I’ve already told people this is a lie and I’m not going to entertain” it, Walker told reporters late last month of the second woman’s allegations. He added: “I also want you to know I didn’t kill JFK either.”

In Tuesday’s news conference, Allred and the woman shared audio recordings of Walker — one of an answering machine message and another of a phone call between the two. The woman read aloud a letter that she said Walker sent her parents and one she said he sent to her, saying, “I’m sorry I have put you through all this stuff.”

Allred also read aloud a signed declaration of a friend who the accuser had confided in about being impregnated by Walker.

In the declaration, the friend said the woman had initially said she had a miscarriage. But the friend had suspected it was an abortion because Walker, who was married to his first wife at the time, did not want the woman to continue with the pregnancy. The friend added that, years later, the woman shared that Walker had driven her to a clinic to obtain an abortion.

The Washington Post did not independently confirm these allegations.

The woman did not appear in person at the first news conference in Los Angeles, speaking via Zoom. Days later, she showed her face in an interview with ABC News. On Tuesday, she was present for the news conference in person but continued to go by “Jane Doe,” citing concerns for her safety.

She shared that she first decided to come forward last month after seeing Walker’s handling of the first woman’s allegations that he pressured and paid for her to have an abortion. She said: “I intended to take this to my grave,” but decided to speak up when she saw him say he had never paid for an abortion and knew he was lying.

Asked if she hopes sharing her story will impact the runoff, the woman said, “I think it’s up to the voters of Georgia to decide who they want to represent them and who to believe.”

Walker has denied paying for any abortions in the past. The Heisman Trophy winner from the University of Georgia initially denied knowing who the first woman accusing him could be. The woman, who produced a receipt from an abortion clinic and a check signed by Walker, later came out and shared that she is the mother of one of his children. The woman told The Washington Post that she had to press Walker to pay for the abortion that he wanted her to have. Since then, he has acknowledged sending her money, but says he didn’t know it was for an abortion, as she alleges.

Meanwhile, Georgia Honor, a group tied to Senate Majority PAC, which is aligned with Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), on Tuesday started airing new ads attacking Walker over his antiabortion stance and the abortion allegations. One of the ads features a clip from an interview in which the woman told ABC News she “felt threatened and I thought I had no choice.”

A new poll, commissioned by AARP and released Tuesday, showed Warnock leading Walker, 51 percent to 47 percent, within the margin of error of 4.4 percentage points.

Walker on Tuesday night was scheduled to hold a rally in Powder Springs, Ga., with Sens. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) and Ted Cruz (R-Tex.). Republicans have sought to bolster Walker’s candidacy citing the importance of flipping the seat, even though Democrats have already secured control of the Senate with 50 seats and Vice President Harris’s tiebreaking vote, when needed.

Democrats are fighting to reelect Warnock, who won the seat in a 2021 special runoff election, and expand their majority to 51. The senator, who is seeking a full, six-year term, has become increasingly vocal in taking jabs at Walker over the abortion allegations.

“He wants a nationwide ban on abortion. He says he doesn’t support reproductive choice. He said no exceptions, which is a rather curious position for him to take,” Warnock said over the weekend in a rally with students at Emory University. He paused while the crowd applauded, adding, “Yeah, that’s what I said.”

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Nikki Haley says Warnock should be deported at Walker rally

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Former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley on Sunday quipped that Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) should be deported as she rallied for Georgia’s Republican Senate nominee Herschel Walker.

“Legal immigrants are more patriotic than the leftists these days,” Haley said at the Hiram, Ga., rally. “They worked to come into America and they love America. They want the laws followed in America. So the only person we need to make sure we deport is Warnock.”

Haley, who served as ambassador to the UN during the Trump administration and is considered a potential 2024 presidential candidate, has stumped for a number of GOP candidates across the country ahead of the midterms.

After rallies in Georgia and New Hampshire on Sunday, Haley will travel to Wisconsin and Pennsylvania on Monday.

Sunday’s rally was part of Walker’s bus tour through Georgia during the final stretch of the race. The former football star is running in a tight race against Warnock, a pastor who assumed office last year after winning a special election.

The Democratic senator is slightly ahead of his Republican opponent in one of the most closely watched Senate races this election cycle.

Walker is facing a number of controversies, including that he encouraged two women in separate instances to have an abortion, despite backing strict abortion bans.

At the rally, Haley, a former governor of South Carolina, said Walker is a “good person who has been put through the ringer and has had everything but the kitchen sink thrown at him.”

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Walker hits back at Obama: ‘Put my resume against his resume’

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Georgia GOP Senate candidate Herschel Walker fired back on Wednesday at former President Obama, who said being a good football player does not make him qualified to be a lawmaker.

Walker, a former NFL running back, told “Fox & Friends’” Brian Kilmeade that he’s never met Obama, but if he had, it meant he was a celebrity “because all he did was hang out with celebrities.”

“He forgot to tell people I created one of the largest minority-owned food service companies in the United States of America, so I do sign the front of a check, which he’s probably never done except when he was in the White House,” Walker said. 

“I created businesses, I sit on a public traded board. So those are things I’ve done outside of football. Put my resume against his resume — I put it up any time of the day and I think I’ve done well,” Walker added.

Obama at a Georgia rally on Friday said during a campaign stop for Walker’s opponent, Sen. Raphael Warnock (D), that while Walker had a commendable football career, that doesn’t translate into success in Congress.

“Some of you may not remember, but Herschel Walker was a heck of a football player,” Obama said. “But here’s the question: Does that make him the best person to represent you in the U.S. Senate? Does that make him equipped to weigh in on the critical decisions about our economy and our foreign policy and our future?”

Kilmeade also asked Walker about how he is handling a spate of recent controversies surrounding his campaign, including reports that the Republican nominee paid for several abortions for ex-partners but maintained a staunch anti-abortion position on the campaign trail.

“I keep going forward,” Walker told Kilmeade. “Right now, they’re going to try to throw everything at me. They spent almost $100 million so far against me. Right now, the race is virtually tied or I’m in the lead which shows that they don’t know how to spend their own money, so quit spending our money.”

Reports have also surfaced that Walker was the father of children who were not previously disclosed. Despite the controversies, he and Warnock are running in one of the tightest races in the country.

A new Atlanta Journal-Constitution-UGA poll published on Monday found that Warnock and Walker are statistically tied at 45 percent.

The Georgia Senate race is one of a handful that could determine who controls the upper chamber next year. If no clear winner is decided next week, the election will head to a runoff — which is how Warnock won the seat in 2020. 

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