Warnock, Walker: Starkly different choices for Black voters

This combination of photos shows Herschel Walker, Republican candidate for U.S. Senate for Georgia, on May 23, 2022, in Athens, Ga., left, and Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate Sen. Raphael Warnock on Nov. 10, 2022, in Atlanta. Walker is running against Warnock in a runoff election. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Raphael Warnock is the first Black U.S. senator from Georgia, having broken the color barrier for one of the original 13 states with a special election victory in January 2021, almost 245 years after the nation’s founding.

Now he hopes to add another distinction by winning a full six-year term in a Tuesday runoff. Standing in the way is another Black man, Republican challenger Herschel Walker.

Both men have common upbringings in the Deep South in the wake of the civil rights movement and would make history as the first Black person elected from Georgia to a full Senate term. Yet Warnock and Walker have cut different paths and offer clearly opposing visions for the country, including on race and racism.