In one of the most-watched races in the nation, Senator Raphael Warnock (D-GA) hauled in a record-breaking $26 million-plus in just three months. The popular senator won his special election but must still run in the 2022 midterms. The Democratic reverend, whose congregation was once Martin Luther King’s, is facing off against competitor Herschel Walker, a scandal-laden former football player endorsed by Donald Trump in an extremely tight race.
Warnock’s campaign reported that it raised $26.3 in the second quarter, placing the reverend with $13.7 million cash-on-hand by June 30. That was nine million dollars beyond what he raised in the previous quarter, The Atlanta Constitution-Journal reported.
Thus far, the Georgia senator has not released his take for the third quarter. But his campaign reported that Warnock had less than slightly under a quarter of his second quarter cash-on-hand.
The fundraising treasure chest was just one example of the health of Georgia senator’s race. It did not help Walker that he has been a resident of Dallas, Texas for a decade. But the GOP imported him to run in Georgia. Even so, the race is unusually close, and the eloquent Warnock cannot take anything for granted.
The Peach State is a vital swing state in the Democrats’ plan to increase their majority in the Senate. Should the Republicans gain even one seat, the Democrats would lose that edge. Right now, Vice President Kamala Harris’s tie-breaking vote is all that lets the Democrats win a 50-50 proposed bill.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has managed to keep his party in lock step against anything Warnock’s party wanted. Unfortunately, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has not been as successful, frequently losing Senators Joe Manchin’s (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema’s (D-AZ) crucial vote.
On Monday, the anti-abortion Walker sustained a serious blow. The Daily Beast released an exclusive:
‘A woman told The Daily Beast that Herschel Walker urged her to get an abortion after she and the Georgia Senate candidate conceived a child while dating in 2009. The woman said she had the procedure and that Walker reimbursed her for.’
The POLITICO wrote:
‘Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker promised Monday night that he would file a lawsuit this morning against The Daily Beast, after the website’s Roger Sollenberger reported that Walker paid for an ex-girlfriend’s abortion in 2009.’
Although the polls have been wrong before, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the University of Georgia polls did indicate that the reverend led by a mere two-percent margin. Libertarian candidate Chase Oliver took three percent of the vote.
Christie writes Gloria Christie Reports & Three White Lions Substack newsletters and a Three White Lions podcast available on Apple, Spotify, etc. She is a political journalist for the liberal online newspaper The Bipartisan Report. Written in her own unique style with a twist of humor. Christie’s Mueller Report Adventures In Bite-Sizes a real-life compelling spy mystery (in progress). Find her here on Facebook. Or at Three White Lions her book on Amazon Kindle Vella and the Gloria Christie Three White Lions podcast on Apple, Spotify, etc.