Old allegations make a new appearance in ads against Sen. Raphael Warnock running in Georgia.
Police body camera footage of a March 2020 incident plays prominently through a video produced by the National Republican Senatorial Committee. That includes Ouleye Warnock, the Senator’s ex-wife, leveling accusations of violence against the pastor.
“I’ve tried to keep the way that he acts under wraps for a long time,” she said.
A narrator in the ad explains the footage came from an incident where Ouleye Warnock said he had hit her with his car during an argument.
It goes on to detail other accusations.
“Earlier this year, he was accused of neglecting his small children and failing to pay court-mandated child care costs, despite being worth more than $800,000 and making more than $174,000 a year from taxpayers,” the ad states.
The video runs in direct response to revelations Democrats have amplified about Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker’s history including accusations of domestic violence, something Walker addressed in his own ad regarding the importance of addressing mental health.
NRSC officials suggest it’s hypocritical for the media to devote so much attention to Walker’s personal life while largely ignoring the continued drama from the Warnock divorce.
“The most blatant media bias this election, by a mile, can be found in Georgia,” said NRSC spokesperson T.W. Arrighi.
“While tropes and stigmatization of Herschel Walker and his decades-old struggles have been blasted across Georgia for months, with zero press scrutiny, Raphael Warnock’s ongoing personal issues have been intentionally ignored. It is malpractice of the highest order. If you scrutinize the personal life of one candidate – and by doing so endanger those facing similar challenges – you ought to have the integrity to do it to the other, regardless of party. Well, since the press won’t, Herschel will step up and have the guts to do their job for them. Herschel knows how to take a hit from his opponents, but as countless linebackers will tell you, he also knows how to hit back.”
Of note, the incident with Ouyele Warnock did draw media attention when it first occurred. The Atlanta-Journal Constitution wrote about the incident in March 2020 after Warnock had filed for Senate and noted he was not charged with a crime. But the bodycam footage only saw distribution in a Fox News report in December 2020, a couple of weeks before the runoff election where Raphael Warnock unseated Republican Sen. Kelly Loefler.
The NRSC ad closes on the words of Ouleye Warnock in her account to the police. The narrator first suggests voters are learning a great deal about the Senator, “but take it from the people that knew him best.”
Then it cuts to his ex-wife.
“He’s a great actor,” she said.
