两名主要的共和党参议员周二前往佐治亚州卡罗尔顿市，支持该州共和党参议员提名人赫歇尔·沃克，谁卷入了争议在否认了一份声称他在2009年为一名妇女支付堕胎费用的报告后，这名妇女说她也是他一个孩子的母亲。
佛罗里达州参议员里克·斯科特(Rick Scott)——全国共和党参议员委员会主席，沃克竞选活动的主要财政支持者——和阿肯色州参议员汤姆·科顿(Tom Cotton)周二在沃克的“联合佐治亚巴士之旅”中发表了讲话，尽管他们只是含蓄地提到了这名妇女对沃克的堕胎主张，沃克在竞选中一直坚定地反对堕胎。
科顿说:“我知道我们正处于一场政治竞选中，人们厌倦了电视广告和他们对赫歇尔·沃克的谎言。”“但让我向你们保证:在接下来的28天里，赫歇尔·沃克能做的最重要的广告就是你们所有人——告诉你的朋友、家人、邻居和同事，简单地说，‘我支持赫歇尔。’"
活动结束后，沃克没有加入的参议员没有回答记者关于他们是否就堕胎指控与候选人交谈的问题。斯科特重申，“他否认了这些指控。”
“沃诺克和民主党人想把这件事和赫歇尔·沃克的过去联系起来。科顿说:“赫歇尔·沃克想让这成为佐治亚州的明天。
他和斯科特大部分时间都在为沃克在犯罪、通货膨胀和边境安全等问题上的立场喝彩。他们批评沃克的对手、现任参议员拉斐尔·沃诺克(Raphael Warnock)是总统乔·拜登(Joe Biden)和民主党政策的“橡皮图章”。
“你们希望投票给一个相信美国是一个伟大国家的人，一个克服了巨大逆境的人，一个希望把格鲁吉亚人民团结在一起的人，一个相信我们的好日子就在前面的人。那么，你应该投票支持来自伟大的佐治亚州的下一任美国参议员:赫歇尔·沃克，”斯科特说。
“如果你喜欢为所有东西多付钱，你应该投沃诺克一票。因为他和乔·拜登做到了。如果你喜欢花双倍的钱买汽油，那就投沃诺克一票，因为他和乔·拜登都是这么做的，”斯科特说。
Sen. Tom Cotton, of Arkansas, speaks at the "United Georgia" campaign bus tour campaign event for Herschel Walker, a Republican Senate candidate for Georgia, in Carrollton, Ga., Oct. 11, 2022.
李北·坦卡尔/亚特兰大日报-美联社宪法
沃诺克试图强调他在国会的两党记录，他在周四对沃克的堕胎主张发表了评论。他在一次竞选活动中说，“我们听到的关于我的对手的消息令人不安。我认为，格鲁吉亚人民可以真正选择他们认为已经准备好在美国参议院代表他们的人。”
在周二与科顿和斯科特的晚上，沃克简短地谈到了这一说法，他将这一说法描述为在比赛的最后几周有政治动机的“十月惊喜”。
“不要让他们参加竞选，来为你竞选吧。他们在争取你的选票...他们会不惜一切代价，”沃克说。
参议院共和党人竞选团队的负责人斯科特上周表示，他支持沃克，并指出沃克否认这位未透露姓名的女性向《每日野兽》声称，他在十多年前报销了她的堕胎费用。
这位自称是前女友的女子告诉《每日野兽》杂志，她有文件支持她的指控:一张堕胎诊所的收据，一张银行存款收据，上面有一张700美元的支票，她说是沃克在堕胎后一周内签署的，还有一张“康复”卡，她说是沃克签署的。
美国广播公司新闻尚未独立证实该报道。
沃克一再否认付钱给该女子进行堕胎，包括在周二接受美国广播公司新闻的林西·戴维斯采访时。
然而，他并没有否认他和那个女人有一个年幼的儿子和他的竞选活动提供了一名NBC新闻记者这位女士和他妻子之间的一些短信显示她和他们保持联系已经很多年了。
沃克今年夏天表示，他有四个孩子，包括与前妻生的另一个儿子。
在沃克否认最初的《每日野兽》报道后，斯科特表示，NRSC将继续支持沃克，他认为民主党人将“撒谎、欺骗和诽谤”，因为沃克正在“赢得”他与沃诺克的竞选。
斯科特上周在一份声明中说:“赫歇尔否认了这些指控，NRSC和共和党人支持他，格鲁吉亚人也将支持他。”。
在周四的一次电台采访中，沃克再次否认了堕胎的指控，但承认了过去的麻烦，他说他通过自己的信仰克服了这些麻烦:“我并不完美。我的精神健康有问题。我曾经是，我曾经是，我讨厌说我重生了——但我有了新的生活。”
沃克和沃诺克的比赛非常激烈。获胜者可以决定现在50-50的参议院的控制权。
目前，沃克在民意调查中落后沃诺克约3.5%，根据五三八
GOP senators stump for Walker in Ga., seeking to pivot from abortion controversy to Biden and inflation
Two leading Republican senators traveled to Carrollton, Georgia, on Tuesday to support the state's GOP Senate nominee, Herschel Walker,who has been embroiled in controversyafter denying a report claiming that in 2009 he paid for an abortion for a woman who said she's also the mother of one of his children.
Both Florida Sen. Rick Scott -- chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, a major financial backer of Walker's campaign -- and Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton spoke at a stop Tuesday on Walker's "Unite Georgia Bus Tour," though they made little more than veiled references to the woman's abortion claim against Walker, who has campaigned as staunchly anti-abortion.
"I know we're in the time in a political campaign when people get tired of television ads and the lies they tell about Herschel Walker," Cotton said. "But let me promise you: The most important advertisement that Herschel Walker can have for the next 28 days is all of you -- talking to your friends and your family and your neighbors and your coworkers and saying simply, 'I'm for Herschel.'"
After the event, the senators -- who were not joined by Walker -- did not answer questions from reporters about if they had spoken to the candidate regarding the abortion allegations. Scott reiterated that "he's denied the allegations."
"Warnock and the Democrats want to make this about Herschel Walker's yesterdays. Herschel Walker wants to make this about Georgia's tomorrows," Cotton said.
He and Scott spent most of their time on the stump applauding Walker's positions on crime, inflation and border security, among other issues. They criticized Walker's opponent, incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock, as a "rubber stamp" for President Joe Biden and Democratic policies.
"You want to vote for a man who believes America is a great country, a man who has overcome great adversity, a man who wants to bring the people of Georgia together and a man who believes our best days can be ahead of us. Well, then you should vote for the next U.S. senator from the great state of Georgia: Herschel Walker," Scott said.
"If you like paying more for everything, you should vote for Warnock. Because he and Joe Biden did that. If you like paying double for gas, vote for Warnock, because he and Joe Biden did that," Scott said.
Warnock -- who has tried to highlight his bipartisan record in Congress -- commented on the abortion claim against Walker on Thursday. He said at a campaign event that "what we're hearing about my opponent is disturbing. I think the people of Georgia have a real choice about who they think is ready to represent them in the United States Senate."
At Tuesday's even with Cotton and Scott, Walker briefly touched on the claim, which he cast as a politically motivated "October surprise" in the final weeks of the race.
"Don't let them be campaigning, come campaigning for you. They're campaigning for your vote ... They'll do whatever it takes," Walker said.
Scott, the head of the Senate Republicans' campaign arm, said last week he was standing by Walker and pointed to Walker's denial of the unnamed woman's claim to The Daily Beast that he reimbursed her for an abortion more than a decade ago.
The woman, who described herself as an ex-girlfriend, told The Daily Beast that she has documents supporting her allegation: a receipt from an abortion clinic, a bank deposit receipt with an image of a $700 check that she said was signed by Walker sent within a week of the abortion and also a "get well" card that she said was signed by Walker.
ABC News has not independently verified the reporting.
Walker has repeatedly denied paying the woman for an abortion, including in a Tuesday interview with ABC News' Linsey Davis.
He has not, however, disputed that he and the woman share a young son together and his campaignprovided an NBC News reporterwith some text messages between the woman and his wife that appear to show she has been in touch with them for years.
Walker said this summer that he has four children, including another son with his ex-wife.
After Walker denied the initial Daily Beast story, Scott said the NRSC would continue to back Walker and he argued that Democrats will "lie, cheat, and smear" because Walker was "winning" his race against Warnock.
"Herschel has denied these allegations and the NRSC and Republicans stand with him, and Georgians will stand with him too," Scott said in a statement last week.
In a radio interview on Thursday, Walker again denied the abortion allegation but acknowledged past troubles that he said he overcame through his faith: "I wasn't perfect. I had my problem with mental health. And I was, I've been, I hate to say I've been born again -- but I have a new life."
Walker is locked in a tight race against Warnock. The winner could decide control of the now 50-50 Senate.
Currently, Walker is trailing Warnock in the polls by about 3.5%, according toFiveThirtyEight.
