Herschel Walker Raphael Warnock debate how to watch & stream

ATLANTA — Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock is set to debate with Republican challenger Herschel Walker Friday night in Savannah ahead of the November election.

This is the first time the two candidates have faced each other on stage and many experts say the debate, although late, is still important.

RELATED: Georgia 2022 Election Guide: Everything you need to know as a voter in the Peach State

Nextstar Media Inc. stations in Columbus, Augusta, and NBC affiliate station WSAV in Savannah will air the show Debate live on October 14 at 7 p.m

connection | Watch the debate at 7 p.m

Recent polls show Warnock ahead, but only just. Andra Gillespie, a political science professor at Emory, said although most people have already made up their minds about who they will vote for in the race, there is a small group of undecided voters.

“It’s small, but in a race where a small margin is expected, it could mean the difference between winning and losing the election,” explained Gillespie.

Polls show that only one to two percent of likely voters are undecided.

“They’re going to need every voter they can get to be able to win,” Gillespie said. “The information that will be gleaned from this debate could actually be quite crucial.”

Sen. Warnock won the U.S. Senate seat in the 2020 special election, becoming Black Georgia’s first senator. He won the seat previously held by Senator Kelly Loeffler, who was appointed after Senator Johnny Isakson resigned. Flipping the historically Republican seat helped give Democrats a majority in the Senate. He plans to work with similar values, with a focus on “working across the aisle” and infrastructure. Warnock is pastor of the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.

He runs on an economic platform that promises to fight for workers and reject tax breaks that don’t benefit working families. Warnock is focused on creating jobs, improving infrastructure and strengthening business.

When it comes to healthcare, the senator is described as “a tireless advocate for Medicaid expansion,” which his campaign says is key to sustaining rural hospitals. He wants to expand access to health care and campaign against the rising maternal mortality rate in Georgia. He has announced that he refuses corporate PAC funds to limit the influence of insurance and pharmaceutical companies, his website says.

connection | Read more about Warnock’s stance on popular issues

The Heisman Trophy winner, a former NFL running back and University of Georgia star, plays on the field and takes on the political arena, beginning with the Senate race.

Running as Georgia’s Trump-backed Christian candidate, the businessman stands on the pillars of an anti-abortion, pro-law enforcement and supporter veterans’ campaign platform. If elected, he would sway the partisan balance of the US Senate and claims he stands for conservative family values ​​and will bring this to Congress.

Walker promises to be business savvy on the economy and wants to push the country to become energy independent to help lower gas prices, create more US jobs and strengthen national security. Economically, he plans to support Georgia’s strong agriculture, tourism, film production and manufacturing industries – although his campaign doesn’t outline how.

After being diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder, Walker focused on breaking stigmas surrounding mental health. His campaign branded him as “a compassionate pro-life and family Conservative,” and Walker has campaigned for families to make their own personal decisions with little government interference.

connection | Read more about Walker’s stance on popular issues

About a week ago, 11Alive released our survey from SurveyUSA. We asked 1,600 Georgia adults online from September 3 to October 4 about their feelings about the November midterm elections, including who they would vote for and what their top issues are.

Of the 11 possible expenses offered to respondents, only three achieved percentages above single digits.

Which of these issues will be most important to you in the fall election?

• Affordable housing: 4%
• Access to healthcare: 5%
• Immigration: 6%
• Economy: 19%
• High cost of living/inflation: 28%
• Threats to democracy: 8%
• Crime: 5%
• Abortion: 13%
• Weapons: 6%
• The Supreme Court: 1%
• Education: 3%
• Other: 1%
• Not sure: 1%

From these options high cost of living / inflation received the most votes with 28% of the respondents cancellation become third.

connection | More information about this survey

11Alive strives to help you vote with confidence by understanding the 2022 election issues affecting you. Our goal is to educate and inform our audience about the voting process. We plan to do this by fact checking, providing context and explaining the system.

You can read our full mission statement online. You can also find other voting resources here at 11alive.com/vote.