Senate candidate Herschel Walker was apparently offended by former President Barack Obama’s mocking remarks referencing the Republican’s rambling speech about vampires and werewolves.
Mr Walker complained to Fox News on Sunday that Mr Obama did not tell "the whole story" when he needled the bizarre soundbite.
Over the weekend, Mr Obama joked while at a campaign event for Senator Raphael Warnock ahead of Georgia’s run-off election on Tuesday :"Since the last time I was here, Mr. Walker has been talking about issues that are of great importance to the people of Georgia. Like whether it’s better to be a vampire or a werewolf. This is a debate that I must confess I once had myself when I was seven. Then I grew up."
The remarks earned him laughter and applause from the audience. The former president went on to say that Mr Walker’s speech would have been "funny if he weren’t running for Senate."
Mr Obama was referencing an appearance Mr Walker made in McDonough, Georgia, in November during which he attempted to make a strange metaphor using vampire and werewolves.
"I don’t know if you know, but vampire are some cool people, are thye not? But let me tell you something that I found out: a werewolf can kill a vampire. Did you know that? I never knew that," Mr Walker said, citing a movie he was watching at the time. "So, I don’t want to be a vampire anymore. I want to be a werewolf."
During the speech, Mr Walker claimed the vampire lost the fight because it did not have "faith" and called on people to have faith in their "fellow brother" and in elected officials.
This week, Mr Walker claimed on Fox News that the story had a "deeper meaning" and that the press was "always trying to mislead people."
"The whole story is the story involved people having faith, having faith and continuing to go out and do your job, having faither to get things done," he said. "So they don’t tell you the whole story."
Neither Mr Walker nor his opponent, incumbent Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock, managed to secure more than 50 per cent of the vote during November’s midterm elections. As a result, the pair are facing each other in a run-off election on Tuesday.
Mr Warnock has taken a strong lead in early voting, with 1.8m votes already cast. Though the breakdown of those votes in unclear, data provided by TargetSmart to NBC News suggests Democrats are far outpacing Republicans in early voting by 52 per cent to 39 per cent.
A new CNN poll reflecting early voting estimates Mr Warnock is leading Mr Walker by a margin of 52 per cent to 48 per cent.
Mr Walker will likely see a spike in support from in-person voting, but — according to The New York Times — Republican allies of Mr Walker believe he will have to win approximately 60 per cent of that vote in order to win, which is four percentage points more than the advantage he held during the November general election.
