Georgia Senate candidates make final pitch to voters 1:43 a.m.
The January runoff election was held on January 5, 2021, one day before supporters of former President Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol. Just days before the runoff, on January 2, 2021, Trump called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and asked him to “find” more than 11,000 votes to put him on top of the state. Now Warnock faces Walker, a Heisman Trophy winner who committed to the University of Georgia. Walker is the rare Republican who in the primary had the support of not only Trump, but also Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Democrats are heavily invested in the race, and former President Barack Obama traveled to Georgia in the final sprint, calling Walker “a celebrity who wants to be a politician.” Walker announced his candidacy for the Georgia Senate race in August 2021, saying he “can’t sit on the sidelines any longer.” This is his first nomination, and he often invokes his status as an outsider in Washington on the campaign trail. His campaign was rocked last month by a Daily Beast report that in 2009, Walker, who has been an outspoken opponent of abortion rights, allegedly paid for an abortion for a woman he was seeing. CBS News has not independently confirmed this payment. The Daily Beast said the unidentified woman supported her claim with a $575 receipt from an abortion clinic and a signed personal check for $700 from Walker to cover the expenses. She told The Daily Beast that she came forward because of Walker’s stance on abortion, saying “I just can’t take the hypocrisy anymore. We all deserve better.” On October 5, The Daily Beast reported that she also said she later fathered a child with Walker. He also denied this report. The woman told The New York Times that when she became pregnant again two years later, Walker again asked her to terminate the pregnancy. This time she refused, she and Walker ended their relationship and she gave birth to a son, who is now 10 years old. Second woman comes forward accusing Herschel Walker of encouraging her to have an abortion 02:56 “He needs to be held accountable, just like the rest of us. And if you’re going to run for office, you need to own your own life,” the woman told the Times. In late October, another woman came forward, alleging that Walker had paid for her to have an abortion in the early 1990s. Walker also denies this accusation. The woman, known as Jane Doe to hide her identity, said Walker drove her to an abortion clinic in the spring of 1993 after learning she was pregnant.
