ATLANTA — The economy was the dominant issue for many Georgia voters this midterm election, as generational-high inflation squeezed bank accounts and drove up the prices of household goods.
The dueling economic stances of U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker have also shaped the Dec. 6 runoff that will decide the final race of the 2022 campaign cycle.
Although Warnock has downplayed his ties to President Joe Biden, his economic policy revolves around support for some of the White House’s most significant legislative priorities.
He backed the bipartisan infrastructure measure and cast deciding votes for a coronavirus relief package and a federal climate, tax and health care measure that supporters say will help drive down inflation.
Walker assails those measures as wasteful government spending as he seeks to link Warnock to the president, whose approval rating has been underwater in Georgia for much of the past two years. But he’s said very little about how he would tamp down rising prices.
Here’s a closer look at where the two rivals stand on economic issues:
U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock
Warnock’s core economic position is that he delivered on promises he made in the 2020 election cycle when Democratic victories flipped control of the Senate.
He has touted his support for the $1.2 trillion infrastructure package, a measure designed to boost the nation’s microchip industry and the federal climate change and tax overhaul.
In the runup to the midterm, Warnock was particularly vocal about provisions in the latter measure that included subsidies to curb prescription drug prices and cap out-of-pocket costs for insulin for Medicare beneficiaries at $35 a month.
He also trumpeted the Chips and Sciences Act, which he vowed would expand broadband in rural areas of the state and ensure Georgia’s electric-vehicle industry could grow.
Amid rising energy prices, Warnock advocated for suspending the federal gas tax to bring down the cost of fuel. He also urged the Biden administration to target price gougers amid pandemic-related shortages of key supplies.
When it comes to the state’s biggest industry — agriculture — Warnock backed a now-stalled debt relief program that would have granted Black farmers and other minorities federal aid to ease generations of systemic inequality.
Republican nominee Herschel Walker
The Republican’s campaign speech is filled with critiques of high prices and what he describes as excessive government spending by the Biden administration — programs he said were enabled by Warnock’s 2021 victory.
He joined other Republicans in criticizing measures that provide new funding for Internal Revenue Service agents assigned to crack down on tax evasion. And he’s warned that a “trickle down” effect from new spending will end up hurting Georgians.
But beyond the broad indictments of the Democratic agenda, Walker hasn’t provided specifics on how he would fulfill his campaign pledge to make the U.S. energy-independent and curb rising inflation.
Nor has he outlined a plan to meet his promise of removing regulations that he said have hurt farmers.
Walker has, however, endorsed a push to suspend the federal gas tax, though he’s also called it an “election-year Band-Aid” that will do little in the long term to address the nation’s volatile energy market.
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