A leading Democratic super PAC will begin airing a new ad attacking the character of Republican Herchel Walker on Saturday, as both parties turn their attention to a Georgia Senate runoff that could end up deciding control of the Senate. .
The ad first aired on CNN, titled “Shown Us” by Georgia Honor — a group affiliated with Senate Majority PAC, the dominant Democratic super PAC focused on Senate control — is backed by 4 million dollars for a week of broadcast, underscoring how costly and contentious the runoff between Walker and Democratic incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock will be.
Whether the outcome of the Georgia runoff will determine control of the Senate is yet to be seen, as CNN predicted a Democratic victory in Arizona’s Senate race on Friday night, but has yet to predict a winner in its contest. Nevada Senate. But even if control of the Senate is already decided, both Democratic and Republican organizations are ready to pour money into the Georgia runoff.
The Senate Leadership Fund super PAC and the National Republican Senatorial Committee have already announced plans to invest millions of dollars to engage Walker voters before the Dec. 6 runoff.
CNN predicted this week that the race between Walker and Warnock would go to a runoff after neither candidate could garner more than 50 percent of the vote, extending what was already one of the nation’s most expensive Senate races by a month. From Labor Day through Election Day on Tuesday, Democrats and Republicans spent more than $151 million on ads alone, trailing only the Pennsylvania Senate race.
The ad from Georgia Honor — a group that spent more than $30 million on ads during that time — calls Walker a liar who has a “long history of violence against women.”
“Herschel Walker showed us who he is,” says a narrator at the scene. “Herschel Walker is unfit for office.”
In a 2008 interview with CNN, Walker’s ex-wife Cindy Grossman said that Walker had held a razor to her throat and at one point “held [a] gun to my temple and said he was going to blow my brains out.” Grossman did not respond to CNN’s request for comment when CNN reported again on the interview in September 2021.
“Raphael Warnock and his allies are using the same old tired attacks that haven’t worked in recent months,” said Will Kiley, a spokesman for Walker’s campaign. “His far-left positions are out of step with the people of Georgia and it’s time for a change. Herschel Walker is the champion the people of Georgia need.”
Georgia Honor spokeswoman Veronica Yoo said, “The choice facing Georgians on Dec. 6 could not be clearer, and we fully intend to communicate in every way possible to voters that Walker is unfit and unprepared to serve them in United States Senate. .”
Meanwhile, the Senate Leadership Fund, the mainstream Republican super PAC with ties to Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, is working with Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp to help finance a get-out-the-vote campaign to boost Walker , according to Jack Pandol. super PAC representative. The committee is throwing in $2 million to fund the turnout campaign Kemp built for his re-election.
The focus on getting off the ballot underscores how Republicans privately worry that because Walker benefited from Kemp’s political run in the general election this week, the Senate candidate could struggle without the governor at the top of the ticket in December.
The NRSC also opened a joint fundraising committee with the Walker campaign and the Georgia Republican Party, said committee spokesman Chris Hartline, and the group released an ad this week that compared the Georgia Senate race to “a miniseries ” and argued that Warnock “belongs in Hollywood, not Washington,” marking some of the Democrat’s most unique campaign ads.
“Warnock is a great actor,” says a narrator, “he just doesn’t act like your senator. Spending, taxes, energy, you name it, Warnock votes with Joe Biden 96% of the time and that act is getting old.”
34N22, another pro-Walker Republican outside group that worked to get out the vote before the general election, received a $500,000 donation from Sen. Rick Scott, the chairman of the National Republican Senate Committee, to continue its work .
“34N22 is fully prepared to finish the race, get Herschel Walker over the finish line and chase down Raphael Warnock on December 6,” said spokesman Stephen Lawson.
And, CNN reported Friday, with concerns about former President Donald Trump’s possible involvement in the Georgia runoff, a Trump adviser said one idea being considered is to help Walker financially with a generous check from MAGA Inc., Trump’s super PAC that gave $16.4 million to candidates in the final weeks of the 2022 cycle.
Democrats, too, are starting to pour money into the state.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee announced Thursday it will spend $7 million on field organizing ahead of the runoff, a major investment aimed at expanding the number of voters Democrats reach before the general election.
“We know that speaking directly to voters through a strong, well-funded grassroots campaign is critical to winning Georgia, and we’re wasting no time getting these programs off the ground in the runoff,” said Sen. Gary Peters, chairman of the Democratic Commission.
Both Walker and Warnock are already fully through to the second round.
Walker spent Thursday campaigning with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
“We are in overtime. We got a runoff,” Walker said at an event in Canton, Georgia. “I was made for this. God prepared me for this moment here.”
Warnock, during a speech to supporters in Atlanta, said: “I’m actually here to ask you a question: Are you ready to do it again,” a nod to the successful runoff he ran against Republican Kelly Loeffler in 2020 cycle.
At that event, however, Warnock’s speech highlighted how the already contentious race could become even tougher.
“We saw that Herschel Walker has a troubling history, a pattern of violence against women, against his family, and he refused to take responsibility for it and refused to even answer questions,” Warnock said. “So the question right now is this: Is that who we want representing Georgia? This is a job that requires honesty.”
