Herschel Walker and Raphael Warnock face off in bizarre debate

Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) faced off against his Republican opponent for the Georgia Senate seat, Herschel Walker, during the pair's only scheduled debate on Friday. The race has become among the most closely watched of the upcoming midterms, and Warnock looked to increase his reported four-point lead in the polls against Walker.

The raucous debate was a chance for Walker to defend himself against numerous allegations that have come out against him, specifically that the staunch pro-life candidate had paid for the abortion of a woman he got pregnant in 2009. Walker continued to deny the allegations. He also attempted to tie Warnock to President Biden's sinking approval numbers and rising inflation.

Warnock, meanwhile, lambasted Walker for having "a problem with the truth," pointing to a number of claims made by Walker about his personal life that have been shown to be untrue. The pair also sparred with one another over issues such as Medicaid expansion and support for law enforcement.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The most notable moment of the night, though, occurred when Walker appeared to flash a fake police badge to back up his claims that he was previously in law enforcement, something The Atlanta Journal-Constitution confirmed to be untrue.

The Wall Street Journal noted that Georgia could see a rare split decision among the state's top offices. While Walker appears on track to lose his Senate bid, GOP Gov. Brian Kemp is leading in the polls against his Democratic challenger, Stacey Abrams.