Did you know that Truthout is a nonprofit and independently funded by readers like you? If you value what we do, please support our work with a donation.
Georgia Lt. Gov Geoff Duncan (R) told CNN on Wednesday that he didn’t cast a ballot for GOP candidate Herschel Walker in the state’s Senate runoff election.
“I showed up to vote this morning,” Duncan said. “I was one of those folks who got in line and spent about an hour waiting, and it was the most disappointing ballot I’ve ever stared at in my entire life since I started voting.”
As a Republican, Duncan wasn’t planning to vote for Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock. But he also “couldn’t find anything that made sense for me to put my vote behind” Walker, he said.
“I walked out of that ballot box showing up to vote but not voting for either one of them,” he went on.
Duncan has previously expressed reservations about Walker, particularly regarding the candidate’s association with Donald Trump, and wrote an op-ed after the general election in November asking him to denounce the former president. While Trump hasn’t appeared in the state to campaign on Walker’s behalf during the runoff stage of the race, he did endorse Walker in the GOP primary, and appeared with him on the campaign trail in Georgia earlier this year.
Trump has continued online fundraising for Walker during the runoff, and proposed the idea of doing a tele-rally for him in the final days of the race.
The most recent controversy surrounding Walker involves questions over whether or not he’s a legitimate resident of Georgia. A CNN KFile report from last week shows a video of Walker saying he lives out of state during a campaign rally in January.
In the video, Walker says he is qualified to discuss the issue of immigration because “I live in Texas.” The video also shows Walker saying that he made the decision to run for the Georgia Senate seat against Warnock “as I was sitting in my home in Texas.”
Walker has also listed a house in Texas as his primary residence in tax forms and claimed a homestead exemption on that property. While some legal experts don’t believe the issue of Walker’s residency will jeopardize his candidacy from a legal standpoint, the controversy could still play a big role in the final days of the runoff election, which concludes on Tuesday.
One Georgia resident, Ann Gregory Roberts, has filed a legal complaint over Walker’s tax exemption for his home in Texas, saying that “it appears that Walker was not a resident of Georgia for voting purposes when he registered to vote and voted,” an action that she believes should make him ineligible to run for office.
Investigators should “promptly investigate Walker,” the complaint from Roberts concludes.
An important fundraising appeal: 9 Days to raise $50,000
Truthout is one of only a few platforms for justice-oriented, grassroots journalism. Today, as political censorship from the right intensifies, we have no choice but to ask for your help.
We are fundraising right now to cover our basic operating expenses. If you can support Truthout with a one-time or monthly donation, you will make a significant impact on our work. Anything you can do makes a difference — we appreciate your support.