WRIGHTSVILLE — Raphael Warnock barnstormed through Republican Herschel Walker’s hometown on Monday night, telling supporters here that while he admired the football skills of their “favorite son,” they didn’t qualify him to serve in the U.S. Senate
“That brother could razzle dazzle you on that football field,” the Democratic senator said.
“But tonight we’re on a different field,” Warnock said. “And the people of Georgia need a true champion.”
Joining Warnock at the rally was Walker’s former football coach and high school social studies teacher, Curtis Dixon.
“As a football player, he was big, he was fast, he was strong,” Dixon said of Walker. “None of that’s going to help in the Senate.”
“He’s not ready,” Dixon said to shouts of approval from the boisterous crowd.
On the campaign trail, Walker speaks frequently about growing up in Wrightsville, a rural community in east Georgia. His family still lives there, and in the town square, “Run, Herschel, Run” signs adorned shop fronts already decorated for Christmas.
Johnson County, where Wrightstville is located, went Republican in the midterm election earlier this month. Nearly 74% of voters there backed Walker while about 26% supported Warnock.
But Monday night’s Warnock rally, which attracted several hundred people to the Doc Kemp School, was designed less to win over voters in the area and more as a dig at Walker.
One of those who showed up was Joseph Folsome, who said he grew up a few miles away from Walker’s family.
“He’s out off his league when he comes off the football field,” Folsome said.
“I love Herschel. I love his family. But one can love a person and not love their ways, and so I hope that he loses in grand fashion, even though he’s my homeboy,” Folsome added.
Warnock and Walker are locked in a Dec. 6 runoff for a U.S. Senate seat from Georgia after neither cleared the 50% benchmark to win the race outright in the general election earlier this month.
Walker on Monday campaigned in Milton but made no mention of Warnock’s visit in his hometown.
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