Post Politics Now Warnock and Walker square off in highly anticipated debate in Georgia

Asked if Biden should run for reelection in 2024, Warnock said he hasn’t “spent a minute” thinking about which politicians should run for office next cycle.

When pressed on Biden’s physical and mental fitness for the job, Warnock said that the people of Georgia hired him to represent them regardless of who is in the White House.

Walker, in contrast, said he would support a run by Trump in 2024 and called the former president a friend.

Front-line Democrats have largely avoided answering whether Biden — the oldest person to serve as president — should run again.

In response to a question about his ex-wife filing a lawsuit asking for increased child support, Warnock spoke about his relationship with his children, to whom he said he spoke before coming onstage for the debate.

“My children know that I am with them and for them and that I support them in every single way that a father does,” Warnock said.

The answer comes as Walker’s commitment to fatherhood has been called into question, with his son Christian Walker taking to social media to criticize his father’s campaign.

Walker said he’ll support former president Donald Trump if he chooses to run for president in 2024, because “he’s my friend.”

“Yes, I would,” Walker said when asked if he’ll support Trump in 2024. “He’s my friend. I won’t leave my allies.”

Warnock, meanwhile, did not give a clear answer on whether he would support President Biden in 2024, telling moderators that he has not thought about the 2024 presidential race yet.

“Maybe this is difficult for people to understand,” Warnock said. “I think that part of the problem with our politics right now is that it’s become too much about the politician who’s going to run.”

Warnock and Walker got into a squabble over the veracity of Walker’s statements.

The clash started when moderators asked both candidates what they would do to lower crime.

Warnock touted bipartisan congressional gun-control legislation and said he’d introduced legislation meant to support law enforcement officers. Walker contested this, accusing Warnock of “empowering” criminals because “he believes in no-cash bail and releasing prisoners.” Walker then touted the endorsement he received from police in the state.

Walker and Warnock both said they would accept the results of the Senate election, regardless of the results.

Walker, who has previously supported former president Donald Trump’s false claims that there was widespread fraud during the 2020 presidential election, also said that Joe Biden won the election in 2020.

“President Biden won and Senator Warnock won. That’s the reason I decided to run,” he said.

An analysis by The Washington Post found more than 100 candidates for statewide offices or Congress have repeated Trump’s false claims about the election results.

Neither Sen. Raphael G. Warnock (D-Ga.) nor Herschel Walker brought up the claim by the mother of one of Walker’s children that he paid for her to get an abortion in 2009 in their opening statements. Walker has denied the reports and opposes access to abortion. Later in the debate, when pressed on the issue, Walker addressed it. Both candidates have, so far, focused on other issues.

Georgia GOP Senate nominee Herschel Walker, on the debate stage Friday, said once again that reports that he paid for a former girlfriend’s abortion in 2009 are a lie.

Walker was asked about the reports during a debate against Sen. Raphael G. Warnock (D), whom he is trying to unseat. The mother of one of Walker’s children has told several news organizations that the former football star paid for a 2009 abortion that she said he wanted her to have. The woman told The Washington Post that she had to repeatedly press Walker for funds for the procedure.

The Education Department is preparing to release a beta version of the student debt relief application as soon as Friday evening, testing the viability of the platform ahead of the full rollout, according to three federal officials with knowledge of the plan.

As Danielle Douglas-Gabriel and Jeff Stein report, the portal will be open for only a short window but will reopen again at a later date, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly. The test will allow the agency to collect data on the functionality of the site, an official said.