Where Herschel Walker, Warnock Stand on 5 Key Issues Ahead of Midterms

With less than one month until the November 8 midterm elections, incumbent Georgia Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock is facing a close challenge from Republican Herschel Walker, a former football star endorsed by former President Donald Trump.

Polls indicate Warnock and Walker are nearly tied, with Warnock holding a narrow lead in recent surveys. The race was shaken up last week after Walker's former partner claimed he paid for her abortion despite his opposition to abortion rights. His son, Christian Walker, also tweeted a video that apparently called out Republicans who support his father.

Before President Joe Biden eked out a narrow win in Georgia during the 2020 election, the Peach State was seen as leaning Republican. But suburban voters' shift toward Democrats and a booming population in the Atlanta metro area turned the state purple.

Whoever prevails in the November contest will serve alongside Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff, a Democrat elected alongside Warnock in 2021.

Warnock and Walker have embraced starkly different campaign platforms as Georgia voters are most concerned about the economy, inflation and abortion rights ahead of the election—according to a WXIA-TV poll of 1,076 likely voters.

Here is where Warnock and Walker stand on five of the most pressing issues facing Georgians.

Inflation

Inflation and the economy remain the top issues for millions of voters across the United States, including in Georgia. The summer saw steep increases in inflation as well as concerns surrounding a possible recession, which Republicans sought to pin on COVID-19 recovery bills supported by Democrats, among them Warnock.

Walker has blamed rising inflation on Democratic policies, though economists noted that Russia's war on Ukraine was adding pressure to the economy.

"Does the media think we are stupid? Inflation has nothing to do with Ukraine and everything to do with President Biden's policies," he tweeted in February.

Warnock voted in favor of the Inflation Reduction Act, Biden's signature policy proposal. The bill offsets new spending on climate change reduction by allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices, increased IRS enforcement, and a 15 percent minimum tax on corporations. Democrats have touted the bill as helping to stop inflation from increasing, but Republicans denounced it as reckless spending that will only worsen economic woes.

Abortion

After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, abortion became a major issue in the midterm races. Georgia quickly enacted a 6-week abortion ban following the high court's ruling.

Both Warnock and Walker have sought to paint their opponent as taking on extreme positions on abortion. Walker has called for a complete ban on abortions, including in cases of rape, incest or when the health of the mother is at risk. His call goes further than many Republicans who support some exceptions.

"There's no exception in my mind," he told reporters in May. "Like I say, I believe in life. I believe in life."

Warnock, a pastor, supports abortion rights.

"As a pro-choice pastor, I've always believed that a patient's room is way too small for a woman, her doctor, and the United States government," he tweeted in May. "I'll always fight to protect a woman's right to choose. And that will never change."

When pressed by reporters if he would support any federal limits to abortion, Warnock said, "Women have seen a core constitutional right of theirs that they've known now for half a century undermined by an activist court," per Fox News.

Crime

Republicans across the United States have attacked Democrats as being "soft on crime" by embracing policies such as bail reform. Crime has been a major theme in Georgia's Senate race as Walker accused Warnock of demonizing the police.

"The thing you want to do right away is bring some type of trust between the citizens and police. The guy I'm running against—he's demonized police officers by calling them names. Right now they talk about defunding the police. Now the left is trying to say 'No we want to fund the police.' Right now, the police don't trust them. They believe in no cash bail. We've got to hold people accountable for their actions," Walker said in an interview with Fox News last month.

Warnock has called to end the cash-bail system for nonviolent offenders. His 2020 campaign told Atlanta-based news station 11alive: "Reverend Warnock supports ending cash bail for nonviolent misdemeanor offenses only, where an individual would remain in jail simply because they cannot afford bail – not because they had been convicted of any wrongdoing."

Warnock also sponsored a bill to help small police departments hire and keep officers, according to PolitiFact.

Donald Trump and the 2020 Presidential Election

Walker has backed Trump's claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him through voter fraud in key states, including Georgia where he urged Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to "find" enough votes to tilt the election in his favor. Trump's voter fraud theories have not been backed up by credible evidence and officials have maintained the election's integrity.

Walker has long been a Trump ally, and Trump has said he advocated for Walker to run. The former president endorsed Walker during the GOP primary and has defended him amid his abortion scandal.

Warnock, alongside every Senate Democrat, voted against Trump in the former president's impeachment trial. He described the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot—which saw a mob of Trump supporters fail in their attempt to force Congress to block Biden's electoral victory—as an "attack on the votes of the people of Georgia and voters all across this country." He has been a vocal Trump critic.

Immigration

While Walker remains a staunch Trump ally, he has been willing to buck the former president on immigration issues. He supports building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border but told USA Today in 2015 that he disagrees with plans to deport undocumented immigrants from the United States. He added he would support a proposal that allows them to earn citizenship, per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

"While Herschel is fully supportive of those who follow the legal immigration process, he believes that our leaders have a Constitutional obligation to secure America's borders and keep Americans safe," per his campaign website.

Democrats have been on the defense on immigration issues, with Republicans blaming a surge in migrants entering the United States on what they view as lax border policies pursued by the Biden administration. But Democrats argue that the influx of migrants is due to political and economic issues in some Latin American countries.

Warnock's campaign website urged "comprehensive immigration reform that fixes what is broken in our system, keeps our nation safe, and provides a reasonable path to citizenship." Specifically, Warnock called for the end of private prisons for migrants and opposition to family separation policies.

He opposed the Biden administration's decision to reverse Title 42, which limited asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border.

"I think this is not the right time and we have not seen a detailed plan from the administration. We need assurances that we have security at the border and that we protect communities on this side of the border," he said, per the Journal-Constitution. "I think this is the wrong time and I haven't seen a plan that gives me comfort."