The closely-watched U.S. Senate race in Georgia between Trump-backed Herschel Walker and Democrat Sen. Raphael Warnock is officially headed to a run-off in December.
“Georgia’s U.S. Senate race is heading to a runoff, with neither major candidate on track to win a majority of votes. Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and GOP nominee Herschel Walker will face off again on Tuesday, Dec. 6, with the Senate majority potentially on the line for a second straight election cycle in the historically conservative bastion. Warnock was slightly ahead, with 49 percent of the vote, but Georgia law requires a runoff if no candidate clears 50 percent,” Politico reported.
Late last week, Warnock was hit with accusations that he funneled more than $60,000 in childcare expenses from his campaign a Federal Election Commission report said, the Daily Wire reported.
Warnock’s campaign, according to the filings, spent a total of $61,959.40 for items listed as “childcare” — with several payments going directly to specific childcare providers and a number of payments going to an organization called “Bright Start Nanny Service.” Bright Start is listed online as an employment agency that provides full-service child care.
While the FEC does allow payments for childcare to come from campaign funds, that usually refers to single payments for specific events — and Warnock appears to be using those funds to pay the bulk of his childcare expenses. Only one of the 33 listed payments — disbursed on September 26, 2022 — was described in the subject line as “childcare expenses (campaign-related).” The largest single payment — totaling over $11,000 — was made directly to Warnock himself and was described as “childcare reimbursement.” The others were simply described as “childcare.”
The senator had previously been criticized for that showed that his church owned a building in a low-income area and had attempted to evict tenants during the pandemic.
“NEW: Records obtained by @FreeBeacon reveal Raphael Warnock’s church, which pays him a $7417 monthly housing allowance, secretly owns a low-income apartment building that tried to evict residents during the pandemic,” Andrew Kerr of The Washington Free Beacon said. “One for just $28.55 in late rent.”
“Since early 2020, 12 eviction lawsuits have been filed against residents of Columbia Tower at MLK Village, which Warnock’s church owns 99% of. The average rent owed by the residents clocked in at just $125 a month. The building has received over $15 million in taxpayer funding,” he said.
The church where Warnock preaches was recently accused of targeting poor residents of an apartment building that it owns in a new scandal that could worsen his chance of winning reelection next month.