Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker survived his first debate with Democratic incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA). Most Democrats were expecting a good beatdown of Walker in the Peach State, but Walker held his own, though he brutally downplayed his expectation before the event. The college football hall of famer admitted that Warnock would probably embarrass him onstage. It was a sledgehammer-to-the-face approach to reducing expectations and perhaps could’ve been delivered better, but Walker is no politician, so roll with the punches on some things. Walker did bring up how Warnock’s church, which pays the Democratic senator almost $8,000/month in living expenses for serving as a senior pastor, is evicting poor people from their apartments.
There’s been a lot of guffawing over Walker’s family drama, which includes paying for a girlfriend’s abortion. We all knew Walker had skeletons in the closet, but he won the primary, and now we must hope he can ride on Brian Kemp’s coattails and knock off Warnock, the slumlord. And Warnock is also someone who is no saint, with an equally entertaining circus involving his family. It’s why Warnock has refused to weaponize Walker’s alleged abortion kerfuffle. The Democrat wants to avoid a character debate.
Walker: "He won't answer that about evicting the people from the church.."
— Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) October 14, 2022
Warnock: "We have not evicted those tenets."
Walker: "He's now telling you 'I didn't evict anyone.' It is written in the paper!..Senator, you did! It's okay to speak the truth. Do not bear false witness! pic.twitter.com/YxBzjr8XeX
The story about the evictions has now pulled Warnock into such a discussion since your campaign message cannot be that you’re fighting for Georgia’s working poor when your church is tossing them out onto the street. The Washington Free Beacon did a deep dive into the eviction, where some tenants were booted for being less than $30 shy of rent payments. Walker hit Warnock on this story, which the senator said was false. Here’s the lawsuit, Mr. Warnock:
Warnock saying they're not evicting tenants simply isn't true.
— Andrew Kerr (@AndrewKerrNC) October 15, 2022
Here's the lawsuit.
Warnock's church, which pays him a $7,400/mo housing allowance, owns 99% of the property in reference here. pic.twitter.com/F3DiixDI2u
Warnock is suggesting that nobody can talk about these unfortunate facts because of Martin Luther King's connection to his church.
— Andrew Kerr (@AndrewKerrNC) October 15, 2022
Ironic, considering MLK's name is at the top of each of the eviction lawsuits filed against the disadvantaged residents of its apartment building pic.twitter.com/vAS7X7Fa35
And yes, the conditions of the apartment were literal hot garbage (via WFB):
A low-income apartment building owned by Raphael Warnock’s church is plagued by pests, maintenance problems, and filth, according to residents—and at least two people have sued the building this year after the elevator allegedly collapsed on them.
Residents of the Columbia Tower at MLK Village complained about living conditions in the building, telling the Washington Free Beacon that garbage is left to pile up in the storage rooms for days, creating an "overwhelming trash smell," common areas aren’t maintained, and the air vents produce a "sickening" amount of dust.
Tenants also said the elevators often break down, and handicapped residents have had to call the fire department to carry them to their rooms.
[…]
"The firemen will come and help them up and down the stairs," one resident said. "For hours they’re stuck waiting on the bottom floor, or stuck on their floor for hours and hours."
Another resident described an incident in which a police officer and a firefighter had to "tote" a wheelchair-bound African-American man up the stairs because the elevators were broken down.
The Atlanta Fire Rescue Department has not returned numerous requests for comment asking if firefighters have been called to Columbia Tower to carry people up to their rooms. The fire department has also not returned an open records request seeking copies of all incident reports at Columbia Tower since the start of 2020.
Given recent polling, no candidate will probably get over 50 percent, which means this race is heading into runoff territory. So, brace yourselves; there’s more Peach State politicking on the agenda.
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