Topline
Republican candidate Herschel Walker’s campaign for the critical senate race in Georgia was left reeling on Tuesday after his son Christian, a conservative social media star, doubled down on multiple allegations against him a day after the staunch anti-abortion candidate denied a report that he had paid for his girlfriend’s abortion in 2009.
U.S. Republican Senate candidate for Georgia, Herschel Walker speaks at a campaign event in … [+]
Key Facts
In a Twitter video posted on Tuesday morning, Christian Walker—a popular conservative TikTok star—accused him of committing “atrocities against my mom.”
Christian Walker attacked his father’s “family values” image saying 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”
Walker also accused his father of lying about the Daily Beast’s abortion story.
The video follows posts from Christian Walker Monday night when, addressing his father, he wrote: “You’re not a ‘family man’ when you left us to bang a bunch of women, threatened to kill us, and had us move over 6 times in 6 months running from your violence.”
The GOP Senate candidate angrily refuted the report in a statement on Twitter, calling it a “hatchet job from a democrat activist,” adding that he plans to filed a suit against the Daily Beast on Tuesday “for this defamatory lie.”
Responding to his son’s first comments, Walker tweeted: “I LOVE my son no matter what.”
News Peg
According to the Daily Beast report, Walker conceived a child with a woman in 2009, while they were dating. He then allegedly paid for her to get an abortion in 2009 after telling her it was “not the right time” for him to have a child. Walker then gave a $700 check to the woman to cover the costs of the procedure, a transaction the Daily Beast claims it has documented. The woman also reportedly produced a $575 receipt from the abortion clinic that performed the procedure and a “get well” card from Walker. The extra $125 she received from Walker helped cover the “ballparked” cost of travel and recovery, the report added.
Key Background
Walker, who has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump, has campaigned on a staunchly anti-abortion and “family values” platform. The former pro footballer says he supports a total ban on all abortion with no exceptions carved out for cases involving rape, incest, and even threat to a woman’s life. Despite abortion being a thorny electoral issue for the Republican party, Walker has also expressed support for Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-S.C.) legislative proposal for a nationwide 15-week abortion ban. During his campaign Walker has also been a vocal critic of absentee fathers—especially in black households. Walker is facing incumbent Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock in a key midterm battle that could determine the control of the Senate. Aggregate polling data from FiveThirtyEight put Warnock 1.2 points ahead of Walker before the latest scandal.
What To Watch For
Walker is scheduled to face Warnock in a televised debate on October 14 in Savannah, Georgia. But another proposed debate between the candidates in Macon was cancelled after Walker failed to confirm his attendance. Earlier on Monday, Warnock appeared to imply that the Savannah debate may also be in jeopardy, tweeting: “Don’t tell me Herschel Walker’s afraid of a second debate when we haven’t even gotten to the first one yet.”
Further Reading
Herschel Walker Denies He Paid For Woman’s Abortion, Threatens Defamation Suit (Forbes)
‘Pro-Life’ Herschel Walker Paid for Girlfriend’s Abortion (Daily Beast)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2022/10/04/herschel-walkers-son-christian-turns-on-him-everything-is-a-lie/