CNN –
A Democratic super PAC will begin airing a new ad on Saturday attacking Republican Herschel Walker’s character as both parties focus on a Georgia Senate runoff that could end up deciding control of the Senate.
First provided to CNN, the ad, titled “Show Us” by Georgia Honor, a group linked to Senate Majority PAC, the mainstream Democratic super PAC focused on control of the Senate, is backed by $4 million for a week on the air, highlighting how Expensive and controversial the second round will be between Walker and Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock.
It remains to be seen whether the outcome of the Georgia runoff will determine control of the Senate, as CNN projected a Democratic victory in the Arizona Senate race on Friday night, but has yet to project a winner in the Nevada Senate race. But even if control of the Senate is already decided, both Democratic and Republican organizations are ready to pour money into the Georgia runoff.
The Senate Leadership Fund super PAC and the Republican National Senatorial Committee have already announced plans to invest millions of dollars to convert Walker voters before the Dec. 6 runoff.
CNN projected this week that the race between Walker and Warnock would go to a runoff after neither candidate could get more than 50 percent of the vote, extending by a month what was already one of the nation’s most expensive Senate races . From Labor Day to Election Day on Tuesday, Democrats and Republicans spent more than $151 million on ads alone, trailing only the Senate race in Pennsylvania.
The ad for Georgia Honor, a group that spent more than $30 million on ads during that period, calls Walker a liar who has a “long history of violence against women.”
“Herschel Walker has shown us who he is,” says a narrator in the spot. “Herschel Walker is unfit for office.”
In a 2008 interview with CNN, Walker’s ex-wife Cindy Grossman said Walker had held a razor to her throat and at one point “held [a] he shot my temple and said he was going to blow my brains out.” Grossman did not respond to CNN’s request for comment when CNN re-reported the interview in September 2021.
“Raphael Warnock and his allies are using the same old tired attacks that have not worked for the past few months,” said Will Kiley, a spokesman for Walker’s campaign. “His positions on the far left are out of line with the people of Georgia and it’s time for a change. Herschel Walker is the champion the people of Georgia need.”
Georgia Honor spokeswoman Veronica Yoo said, “The choice facing Georgians on Dec. 6 couldn’t be clearer, and we fully intend to communicate in every way possible to voters that Walker is not fit and unprepared to serve in the United States Senate.”.
Meanwhile, the Senate Leadership Fund, the dominant Republican super PAC with ties to Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, has teamed up with Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp to help fund a get-out-the-vote operation to boost Walker, according to Jack Pandol a spokesperson for the super PAC. The committee is dropping $2 million to fund the turnout operation Kemp built for his own re-election.
The focus on getting out the vote highlights how Republicans are privately worried that because Walker benefited from Kemp’s political operation in this week’s general election, the Senate candidate could struggle without the governor at the top of the ticket in December.
The NRSC has also opened a joint fundraising committee with Walker’s campaign and the Georgia Republican Party, committee spokesman Chris Hartline said, and the group released an ad this week comparing the Georgia Senate race with “a miniseries” and argued that Warnock “belongs”. in Hollywood, not Washington,” pointing to some of the Democrat’s more unique campaign ads.
“Warnock is a great actor,” says a narrator, “he doesn’t act like your senator. Spending, taxes, energy, whatever, Warnock votes with Joe Biden 96% of the time, and that act is he is getting old
34N22, another outside Republican group supporting Walker that worked to get out the vote before the general election, received a $500,000 donation from Sen. Rick Scott, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, to continue its work.
“34N22 is fully prepared to finish the fight, get Herschel Walker across the goal line and dislodge Raphael Warnock on December 6,” said spokesman Stephen Lawson.
And as CNN reported Friday, with concerns about former President Donald Trump’s possible involvement in the Georgia runoff, a Trump aide said one idea being considered is to help Walker financially with a generous check from MAGA Inc., Trump’s super PAC that donated $16.4. million to candidates in the final weeks of the 2022 cycle.
Democrats are also starting to pour money into the state.
The Democratic Senate Campaign Committee announced Thursday that it would spend $7 million on field organizing ahead of the runoff, a substantial investment aimed at expanding the number of voters Democrats reached out to before the general election.
“We know that speaking directly to voters through a strong, well-funded floor game is critical to winning in Georgia, and we’re wasting no time getting these programs going in the runoff,” said Sen. Gary Peters , chairman of the Democratic committee.
Both Walker and Warnock have now fully turned around heading into the second round.
Walker spent Thursday campaigning with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
“We are in overtime. We had a lap,” Walker said at an event in Canton, Ga. “I was made for it. God prepared me for this moment right here.”
Warnock, during a speech to supporters in Atlanta, said: “”I really came to ask you a question: are you ready to do it again”, a nod to the election success he ran against Republican Kelly Loeffler in 2020. cycle.
At that event, however, Warnock’s speech highlighted how the already contentious race could become even more acrimonious.
“We’ve seen that Herschel Walker has a disturbing history, a pattern of violence against women, against his own family, and he refused to take responsibility for it and even refused to answer questions,” Warnock said. . “So the question right now is this: Is that who we want representing Georgia? This is a job that requires honesty.”