“He’s not just a liar, he’s a cheat. He’s not just a cheat, I say he’s a Marxist,” Walker said of Warnock. “I’m running against a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”

Walker’s free-wheeling speech, peppered with religious references, was aimed at rallying his base in a reliably conservative part of the state where he needs voters to turn out.

“It is time for a warrior to step in, and God prepared me to be that warrior,” Walker said. “My heavenly father has given so much to me and now I have to give back, and the way I give back is to get him out of office.”

Eulene Dupree of Rome said Walker’s appearance with Greene solidified her support for the former football star.

“I love Margie,” she said. “We need Herschel and we need Margie.”

Burt Jones, the GOP nominee for lieutenant governor, predicted that “this election cycle is going to come down to gas and grocery issues” -- issues he expects to play into the GOP’s favor.

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Why Brian Kemp isn’t going to Georgia-Florida

CLAXTON — If there was a takeaway message that Gov. Brian Kemp delivered to dozens of supporters at a campaign stop in this rural southeast Georgia town, it was this: Don’t get a big head about the Republican’s big lead in the polls.

Concerned about complacency, the governor and his allies have tried to downplay the polls that show him with a significant advantage over Democrat Stacey Abrams. The latest came over the weekend: a survey from the left-leaning Data for Progress firm that pegged Kemp to a 10-point lead, 53% to 43%.

“Don’t believe any polling. Don’t believe these media stories about how good we’re doing. They’re trying to lull us to sleep. They’re trying to get us not to work the last 15 days,” Kemp said.

“They’re trying to get us to drive the bus to St. Simons for Georgia-Florida this weekend and just stay next week and rest up before the big vote,” he said. “But we’re not going to do that. We’re going to keep the bus going.”

(That was a bit of an inside joke. Eight years ago, Democrat Jason Carter steered his campaign bus to Jacksonville, Florida, to watch the annual grudge match between the football teams. By then, polls had him lagging behind Gov. Nathan Deal.)

For all their differences, Abrams has a similar view of the polls that paint a grim portrait for her campaign. On a morning call with reporters, she said her campaign wasn’t in panic mode, and she renewed her criticism of polls that she said fail to get an accurate read of the electorate.

“Polls are a snapshot. The question is: Who are we taking a picture of?” Abrams said. “We are very, very grateful for the energy we see.”

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Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com

Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com

Abrams’ campaign likes early voting data but calls SB 202 ‘voter suppression’

Republicans in Georgia have pointed to the record-breaking turnout among early voters so far as proof that Georgia’s new voting law doesn’t restrict access to the ballot box. Stacey Abrams and other Democrats slammed the law as “Jim Crow 2.0″ when it passed the GOP-led Legislature in 2021.

In remarks to reporters Monday, Abrams said the soaring turnout during the early voting period shouldn’t mask systemic problems with the state’s voting laws.

“Suppression is about barriers to access. But the antidote to suppression is overwhelming the polls with your presence, and that is exactly what voters did in 2018,” said Abrams. “It’s what they continue to do in 2020 and ‘21.”

“Put in the vernacular, more people in the water doesn’t mean there are fewer sharks,” she said.

Abrams’ campaign manager, Lauren Groh-Wargo, said early data shows vote-by-mail numbers fell drastically in Georgia between 2020 and 2022 as a result of requirements in Senate Bill 202 that make mail-in voting more cumbersome.

She also said language in the law backed by Gov. Brian Kemp allowing unlimited mass challenges of voter eligibility has led to a spike in challenges against legal Georgia voters.

“That basically is what Kemp’s voter suppression bill did in 2021. It said:, ‘Oh, look at all these Black and brown people who voted by mail. We’re going to make it harder.”

Despite that, Groh-Wargo said the Abrams campaign remains encouraged by early voting data from Black male voters in particular. She said her campaign’s analysis shows 16% of advance voters so far didn’t cast ballots in Georgia in 2018, and that another 55,000 didn’t vote in 2020.

“We are seeing strong enthusiasm of Democratic-leaning voters and very strong early vote in person, just much lower numbers on vote-by-mail overall.”

At a campaign stop in Claxton, Kemp scoffed at the Democratic criticism, noting that a federal judge recently rejected a far-reaching legal challenge brought by the Fair Fight Action group that Abrams started.

“Georgians are waking up to the fact that Stacey Abrams was lying to them,” he said. “I think people, especially minorities, are waking up to the fact that what she’s saying is simply not true. And they want to vote for a governor who’s going to be truthful to them.”

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Herschel Walker closes Jasper stop with visit to gun range, shoots AR15 rifle

JASPER -- Herschel Walker’s third stop on Monday was a rally outside of Appalachian Gun Pawn and Range in the north Georgia mountains.

He gave his stump speech to a crowd studded with supporters donning the red-and-black of Walker’s playing days at the University of Georgia, while others wore “Appalachian Gun” attire.

The Republican wielded a nickname for his Democratic opponent: “Wreck-it Ralph.”

After the rally, Walker was escorted to the store’s gun range where he practiced shooting with an AR15 rifle made by Georgia-based company Daniel Defense. Staff at the store said they were told that Walker plans to sign and auction off the firearm to supporters.

A Daniel Defense AR15 is the gun that was used at the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, in May that left 19 children dead. A spokesman for Walker said he had no control over the gun used during target practice and that it was chosen by the staff at Appalachian.