Democrats highlight Herschel Walker abuse allegations in new ad

Democrats on Wednesday issued a new attack ad in the hotly contest Georgia Senate race highlighting abuse allegations against Republican candidate Herschel Walker as the former football star remains in a tight race with incumbent Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock.

“Herschel Walker has repeatedly threatened to kill his ex-wife,” the 30-second ad said. “He held a razor to her throat and threatened to kill her. He’s accused of choking her until she passed out. He threatened a shootout with police outside her home.”

Georgia Honor, a super PAC created by Democrats’ Senate Majority PAC in 2020, released the ad as part of a larger $33 million media blitz ahead of the November election, according to NBC News. With only about 10 weeks left until Election Day, a recent poll showed Walker barely edging out Warnock for the lead in the Senate race.

The Democratic group joins the Republican Accountability PAC, an anti-Trump Republican group that launched a $1 million ad campaign against Walker earlier this month. The group, whose initiative seeks to “defeat anti-democracy Republicans in key battleground states,” also released an ad focused on Walker’s abuse allegations.

Walker’s ex-wife, Cindy Grossman, obtained a protective order against him in 2005, alleging that he repeatedly threatened to kill her. 

“The first time he held the gun to my head … he held the gun to my temple and said he was going to blow my brains out,” Grossman said in a previous interview used in the ad.

The ad also pulled a clip from a previous interview with Walker where he recounted that he had “put a gun to [Grossman’s] head.”

Walker acknowledged the allegations in an interview with Axios in December, saying he is “accountable” for his behavior toward Grossman.

However, Walker has denied allegations from two other women. An ex-girlfriend told police in 2012 that Walker threatened to kill her, while another woman told police in 2002 that Walker had threatened and stalked her.