The 3 Key Takeaways from Georgia's Senate Debate Between Warnock, Walker

Georgia's Senatorial candidates, Herschel Walker and incumbent Raphael Warnock, faced off Friday night in what is likely to be the only debate between the two prior to the midterm elections.

The one-hour debate started with a question on inflation and ended with the candidates discussing if they would support expanding the number of seats on the Supreme Court. Walker, who has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump, attacked Warnock for his history of supporting the Biden administration's policies, while Warnock painted his opponent as an extremist on issues like abortion.

Recent polling shows that Warnock leads the Senate race by only 3.9 points, according to FiveThirtyEight, giving the candidates only a few weeks to sway voters before elections start on November 8.

Different Strategies

Walker continuously portrayed his opponent as a champion for President Joe Biden and Democratic legislation in Congress, adding that Warnock has voted with Biden 96 percent of the time while in office.

Nathan Price, a political science professor at the University of North Georgia, told Newsweek Friday that Walker's strategy was "clearly" to associate the senator with Biden's 38 percent approval rate in Georgia, and repeated Warnock's commitment to the Democratic party throughout the night as "an attempt to appeal to independent voters who may still be undecided," Price wrote.

Price pointed out, however, that Warnock fought to counter this narrative by mentioning several instances he has worked across the aisle while in office, such as working with Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville on helping peanut farmers in Georgia, according to The Birmingham News.

"I will work with anyone and stand up against anybody I need to stand up against to get good things done for Georgia," Warnock said during the debate Friday.

Price also acknowledged that Warnock's effort to paint Walker as an "extremist" on the issue of abortion. Walker has stated in the past that he supports banning all abortions with no exceptions for rape, incest or health, but backtracked a bit during the debate Friday, stating that while he is personally against abortions, he is "also representing the people of Georgia" and agrees with Georgia's Heartbeat Bill that is already in place.

Christian Rhetoric

Both Walker and Warnock made several references to their faith Friday night as well, with Walker at one point attacking Warnock on his position as both a pastor and a pro-choice candidate.

Warnock, when asked to clarify on a statement he made at a rally a few weeks ago that "even God gave us a choice," said Friday that the statement was "self-explanatory. God gave us a choice and I respect the right of women to make a decision."

In response, Walker said that the senator was correct.

"But also within the Bible," Walker added. "If you read the Bible more, God said 'Choose life.'"

Price said that Walker's statements were an attempt to appeal to evangelical conservative voters in Georgia as well as redirect some criticism he has faced in the last few weeks.

"As you know, his personal life has been under considerable scrutiny these last few weeks in particular and I think he attempted to use that moment as an opportunity to energize an important constituency within Georgia politics," Price wrote to Newsweek.

On the other hand, Price said that Warnock's references to his faith "when discussing the complexity and nuance of both the abortion and crime issues" was a way for the senator to connect with voters who are more moderate on the issue of abortion.

"Props are against the rules"

Perhaps one of the most memorable moments of Friday's debate, however, was when Walker was asked to put away an honorary police badge after being accused by Warnock for pretending to be a cop.

In response to a question about gun violence, Walker had stated that Warnock's past rhetoric around the police had been harmful to law enforcement, to which the senator responded, "one thing I have not done, I've never pretended to be a police officer."

Walker responded by pulling out an honorary police badge, which was quickly met by one of the moderators telling Walker "you have a prop. That is not allowed sir."

Walker put the badge away, but told the moderator it was "not a prop, this is real."

The moment was later posted on Twitter by former NBC executive Mike Sington and received plenty of responses from other users. Sington wrote in a tweet that Walker had been "flawlessly scolded" by a debate moderator to put the badge away.

Some users made humorous comments out of the situation, such as political commentator Elie Mystal, who wrote, "Herschel Walker whipping out a fake badge and calling himself a police fiver is like my kid calling himself a 'pilot' because the actual pilots handed him a wings pin and showed him the cockpit."

Despite the comedic moment, Walker was considered to have "held his own" during the debate, according to a tweet from Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Greg Bluestein.

"I'm getting surprised texts from Democrats caught off-guard that Walker is 'holding his own,'" Bluestein wrote about half-way through the debate. "As we've reported, he's been preparing for this debate for weeks -- and he eagerly sought to lower expectations."

Despite the tweetable moments, Price told Newsweek that it is unlikely the debate had much of an impact on the "trajectory" of Georgia's Senate race.

"Georgia is essentially a microcosm of the country in the sense that the electorate is highly polarized and closely divided in this midterm election year," Price wrote. "I do not think there was much in that debate that would change Georgia voters' views of Senator Warnock or Mr. Walker."

Newsweek reached out to both Walker and Warnock's campaigns for comment.