Herschel Walker centers pitch to Republicans on ‘wokeness’

By BILL BARROW
Associated Press

EMERSON, Ga. (AP) — Herschel Walker pitches himself as a politician who can bridge America’s racial and cultural divides. Yet by staking out familiar conservative ground in his Georgia Senate campaign, the former football star seems to be contradicting his promises of unity. Walker says Democrats are the real purveyors of division and their “wokeness” on cultural issues is a threat. Walker says those who don’t share his vision of the country can leave, and he blasts his opponent, Sen. Raphael Warnock, and the Democratic Party as the real purveyors of division. Walkers’ arguments make for a striking contrast in a Senate contest featuring two Black men born in the Deep South during or immediately following the civil rights movement.