ATLANTA — Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock is set to debate his Republican challenger, Herschel Walker, Friday night in Savannah ahead of the November election.
This is the first time the two candidates have faced off on stage, and many experts say even though the debate came late, it's still important.
Nextstar Media Inc. stations in Columbus, Augusta, and the NBC-affiliate station WSAV in Savannah will air the Oct. 14 debate live at 7 p.m.
Warnock in the lead, slightly
Recent polls show Warnock ahead but only by a slim margin. Andra Gillespie, a political science professor at Emory, said though most people have already made up their minds over who to vote for in the race, there is a small group of undecided voters.
“It’s small, but in a race where the margin is expected to be small, that could be the difference between winning and losing the election,” Gillespie explained.
Polls show only one to two percent of likely voters are undecided.
“They’re going to need every voter they possibly can get in order to be able to win,” said Gillespie. “The information that is gleaned from this debate could actually be pretty decisive.”
Sen. Warnock won the U.S. Senate seat during the 2020 special election making him the first Black Georgia senator. He won the seat previously held by Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who was appointed after Sen. Johnny Isakson's resignation. Flipping the historically Republican seat helped give Democrats a majority in the Senate. He plans to run on similar values with an emphasis on "working across the aisle" and infrastructure. Warnock is the pastor of the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.
He is running on an economic platform that vows to fight for workers and oppose tax breaks that don't benefit working families. Warnock is focused on job creation, improving infrastructure and bolstering business.
When it comes to healthcare, the senator is described as "a tireless advocate for Medicaid expansion," which his campaign describes as key to keeping rural hospitals open. He looks to expand access to healthcare and work to address Georgia's rising maternal mortality rate. He's announced that he's rejecting corporate PAC money to limit influence from insurance and pharmaceutical companies, his website reads.
A former NFL running back and University of Georgia star, the Heisman Trophy winner is playing the field and tackling the political stage, starting with the Senate race.
The businessman is running as Georgia's Trump-backed Christian candidate, standing on the pillars of an anti-abortion, pro-law enforcement, and supporter of veterans campaign platform. If elected, he would impact the partisan balance of the U.S. Senate and maintains that he stands for conservative family values and will bring that into Congress.
Walker promises to be business savvy regarding the economy and wants to push the country to become energy independent to help lower gas prices, create more jobs in the U.S. and strengthen national security. Economically, he plans to support Georgia's strong agriculture, tourism, film production and manufacturing industries - though his campaign does not outline how.
After being diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder, Walker has focused on breaking stigmas surrounding mental health. His campaign branded him as "a compassionate conservative who is pro-life and pro-family," and Walker has emphasized on the campaign trail that families should make their own personal decisions with little government interference.
About a week ago, 11Alive released our poll from SurveyUSA. We asked 1,600 Georgia adults online from Sept. 3 to Oct. 4 for their feelings on the November midterms, including who they'd vote for and their top issues.
Of the 11 possible issues offered to those surveyed, only three reached percentages above single-digit numbers.
Which one of these issues will be most important to you when voting this fall?
- Affordable housing: 4%
- Access to health care: 5%
- Immigration: 6%
- Economy: 19%
- High cost of living/inflation: 28%
- Threats to democracy: 8%
- Crime: 5%
- Abortion: 13%
- Guns: 6%
- The Supreme Court: 1%
- Education: 3%
- Other: 1%
- Not sure: 1%
Of those options, high cost of living/ inflation received the most votes, making up 28% of those surveyed with abortion coming in third.
Link | See more about this poll
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