U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock is out with a new positive ad this week, a somewhat shocking departure from the barrage of negativity plaguing Georgia’s Senate race as GOP challenger, Herschel Walker, faces ongoing heat over a variety of scandals.
The ad, from Warnock’s campaign, touts the Democrat’s ability to work across the aisle, comparing his work with U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, on a major infrastructure project to odd, yet satisfying food pairings.
“Some things work surprisingly well together,” the ad begins with upbeat music in the background. It then shows a woman with a takeout pizza, with pineapple on it. A young boy then holds up a Wendy’s chocolate Frosty in one hand with french fries in the other. It then cuts to a man in a ball cap with two photos: One of Warnock and the other of Cruz.
“Raphael Warnock and Ted Cruz,” the man says, punctuating the sentence with a question mark.
“That’s right. Raphael Warnock partnered with Republican Ted Cruz to extend I-14, connecting military communities in Texas and Georgia, which will help create jobs from Columbus to Macon to Augusta,” a narrator answers.
“I’m Raphael Warnock and I’ll work with anyone if it means helping Georgia,” Warnock says in the ad.
Pizza in hand, he concludes by taking a bite and proclaiming, “not bad,” the ad’s title.
The pineapple and pizza pairing might miss the mark for some voters. It’s perhaps the most controversial food paring of all time, with memes a plenty showing the best way to eat it is by immediately chucking it into the trash.
But the point is clear in an election cycle that tends to operate at the extremes, with issues like abortion, immigration, the economy and inflation dominating talking points. Warnock wants voters in still red, though turning purple Georgia to know he’s here to get it done, regardless of politics.
If nothing else, the ad is a welcome reprieve from the countless third-party ads blanketing airwaves in Georgia with dark imagery and ominous sounding narrators.
Another ad just released features several women disturbed by information claiming Walker once pointed a gun at his ex-wife.
Despite mounting scandal plaguing Walker’s campaign, he remains locked in a tight race against Warnock. A recent Quinnipiac University poll taken after abortion allegations surfaced against anti-abortion Walker showed Warnock leading by 7 percentage points, but other polls have shown Warnock’s lead within just a couple points of his Republican challenger, and Republicans aren’t backing down from their support.
The race has garnered national attention as both Democrats and Republicans fight to wrest control over the now-tied U.S. Senate. Warnock’s 2021 election was one of two Georgia Senate races that delivered a tie in the chamber to Democrats, with Vice President Kamala Harris serving as the tie-breaking vote.
