HEATED HERSCHEL: Walker checks Warnock effort to change Georgia voting rules
Georgia Republican Senate nominee Herschel Walker isn't pulling any punches against his Democratic opponent, Sen. Raphael Warnock, as the two inch closer to a runoff election scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 6.
McDonough, Georgia – Georgia Republican Senate nominee Herschel Walker isn't pulling any punches against his Democratic opponent, Sen. Raphael Warnock, as the two inch closer to a runoff election scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 6.
Speaking with Fox News Digital following a Wednesday stop on his "Evict Warnock Bus Tour," Walker put a check on Warnock's attempt to "change the rules" of the runoff election by filing a lawsuit to allow early voting to begin earlier than currently allowed by Georgia law.
"You don't change the rules in the middle of the game. They've known this, and it's sad that right now they're making it harder on the voters by bringing questions into the election system rather than just letting people vote and getting this done when there's more time," Walker said when asked about Warnock's lawsuit.
Walker also accused Warnock of not fulfilling his obligations as a U.S. senator by missing a number of votes this week, including one to end President Biden's declared state of emergency over the coronavirus pandemic.
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Republican Georgia Senate nominee Herschel Walker speaks with Fox News' Brandon Gillespie following a campaign event in McDonough, Georgia on Wednesday, November 16, 2022. (Brandon Gillespie)
"You don't change the rules as the game's being played," he reiterated.
Warnock and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee filed the lawsuit in the Superior Court of Fulton County earlier this week, seeking to change the start date of early voting from the Monday after Thanksgiving to the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
Georgia law, however, states that "There shall be a period of advance voting that shall commence... On the fourth Monday immediately prior to a runoff from a general election in which there are candidates for a federal office on the ballot in the runoff."
On Tuesday, Warnock's campaign released a statement to Fox News Digital about the lawsuit, stating, "Illegal attempts to block Saturday voting are another desperate attempt by career politicians to squeeze the people out of their own democracy and to silence the voices of Georgians."
Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker and Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock will face each other again in a runoff election scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 6 after neither garnered 50% of the vote on Election Day. (Getty Images)
Walker then turned to the votes Warnock has missed since the Senate came back into session following the Nov. 8 election, including on S.J.Res.63, a resolution declaring an end to the state of emergency relating to the coronavirus pandemic that former President Trump declared on March 13, 2020, and that President Biden has extended, as well as confirmation votes on a number of Biden judicial nominations.
"If he can't do his job, someone else needs to do it," Walker said.
The resolution on the state of emergency ultimately passed with bipartisan support with 62 senators voting in favor and 36 opposed. Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., was the only other senator to not cast a vote.
Walker lamented that Warnock wasn't facing more criticism for missing the votes, as well as for other points of contention throughout the campaign, including the evictions of tenants renting apartments owned by the latter's church in Atlanta.
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"People aren't talking about things that he should be getting criticism for that he's not," Walker said. "My thing is, in Washington, if you can't do the job for the people of Georgia, it's time for someone else to do it, and that's the reason I decided to run."
Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock speaks during an election night watch party on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
Fox News Digital reached out to Warnock's campaign for comment about Walker's criticism, as well as about the missed votes and the lawsuit but a spokesperson declined to comment.
It wasn't immediately clear why Warnock wasn't present for the votes this week.
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Walker trailed Warnock by a little more than 35,000 votes with 99% of the vote reported after Election Day. Neither candidate won more than 50% of the vote, triggering a runoff election.
Fox News' Claudia Kelly-Bazan and Greg Norman contributed to this story.
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