GA candidates take the debate stage in Atlanta, Herschel Walker does not participate

ATLANTA — Candidates for both House and Senate squared off Sunday night in a series of debates hosted by the Atlanta Press Club.

Channel 2′s Veronica Griffin was at those debates as it started with a fiery to-and-fro between Republican incumbent Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Democrat Marcus Flowers.

As for the U.S Senate debate, a missing candidate was at the top of minds.

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It didn’t take long, about seven minutes in, when the debate moderator had to ask the fired-up US congressional candidates to stay on track.

“I represent the citizens of the United States of America, not DOCA recipients. I also present our district that believes in strong borders. We had over 5 million people illegally invade the United States of America since Joe Biden became president,” said Greene.

Both candidates also had differing takes on a panelist’s question about infrastructure.

“We are actually losing companies coming into our district because we can’t support it, because we don’t have the housing, because we don’t’ have the water, because we don’t have the roads and the schools to support those districts,” Flowers said.

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A debate between the US Senate candidates followed, but Republican candidate Herschel Walker didn’t show up to face incumbent Democrat Raphael Warnock and libertarian Chase Oliver.

Oliver and Warnock posed their last question of the evening to the absent candidate.

“You appeared on a Savannah stage two nights ago. I wasn’t invited to that debate even though I really did want to participate. My question is simple: Why do you agree to the only debate that didn’t invite all candidates?” asked Oliver.

“I want to know from him why he thinks he’s ready to represent the people of Georgia, and he’s ready to face up to this history of violence as he talks about representing us in the Senate,” said Warnock.

Channel 2 Action News reached out to Herschel Walker’s campaign about his decision to skip the debate.

Walker’s communications director Will Kiley stated the following:

“On Friday night, Herschel Walker participated in and won a fair and equitable debate in front of the people in Savannah. Unlike the Press Club debate, the Savannah debate was not organized by Raphael Warnock’s donors. It was unfortunate to see that even in his second try at a debate, Raphael Warnock couldn’t give a single direct answer. Winners don’t need a second try and Herschel Walker was the clear winner of Friday night’s debate.”

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