Republican Party ‘Stands With’ Herschel Walker Amid Abortion Scandal, National Chair Says

Topline

Republicans on Tuesday threw their support behind GOP Senate candidate Herschel Walker after a report from the Daily Beast emerged claiming that the anti-abortion politician had paid for a woman’s abortion in 2009, news that sparked outrage from his son Christian Walker on social media.

Herschel Walker, Republican Senate candidate for Georgia, speaks at a campaign event.

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Key Facts

Rick Scott, the chair of the National Republican Senate Committee, said in a statement Tuesday that the NRSC and Republicans “stand with [Walker], and Georgians will stand with him, too.”

Scott went on to compare the allegations against Walker—which the ex-NFL star has denied—to the treatment of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who was accused of sexual assault after being nominated for the position, saying, “When the Democrats are losing, as they are right now, they lie and cheat and smear their opponents.”

Steven Law, the president of the Senate Leadership Fund, a super-PAC aligned with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), also backed Walker, saying in a statement he would “make things better” for the state and adding, “Full speed ahead in Georgia.”

Crucial Quote

Democrats “know they are on the verge of losing the Senate, and they know that Herschel Walker is winning, so they have cranked up the smear machine,” Scott alleged.

Contra

Some Georgia GOP political strategists have expressed concerns behind closed doors about the scandal and what it means for Walker’s chances of winning the critical Senate race, according to the New York Times, with one reportedly referencing the situation with a GIF of the Titanic.

Key Background

The Daily Beast reported on Tuesday that Walker, who will face Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock in a pivotal race that could determine which party controls the Senate, conceived a child with a woman he was dating in 2009 and asked her to get an abortion because he did not want the child at that time. The report claims that Walker—who has called for a nationwide abortion ban with no exceptions for cases of rape, incest or a threat to women’s lives—paid her $700 for the procedure. Walker, who has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump, has since filed a suit against the Daily Beast, claiming the story was a “defamatory lie” and arguing in a statement on Monday it was a “hatchet job from a democrat activist.” Walker’s son Christian Walker, a right-wing TikTok star, has lambasted his father in response to the story in a series of social media posts, criticizing his father’s allegiance to “family values,” by alleging he has “four kids with four different women” but wasn’t around to raise any of them and instead was “having sex with other women.”

Tangent

The Daily Beast report is the latest in a string of scandals that have dogged Walker since he began his campaign for the Georgia Senate seat. In June, reports emerged that Walker, who has frequently criticized absentee fathers, had fathered three children with different women whom he hadn’t previously mentioned. He admitted to reporters after the fact that he has four children, three sons and a daughter, and “I support them all and love them all.” He added that he had “never denied my children.”