The Georgia Senate marketing campaign raised over $500,000

Herschel Walker’s Senate campaign has raised over $500,000 since the anti-abortion Republican appeared on Fox News to deny a shocking report that he had paid for a woman’s abortion years earlier, a campaign official told Wednesday CNBC.

Walker appeared on Hannity on Monday night, shortly after The Daily Beast published an allegation by an anonymous woman who accused Walker of pressuring her to have an abortion after she became pregnant when they were dating in 2009.

“It’s a blatant lie,” Walker said when Fox host Sean Hannity asked him about the report. Walker’s accusers supported their claims with a receipt from the abortion clinic, a recovery card from Walker and a picture of a personal check he signed, according to The Daily Beast.

Republican U.S. Senate candidate for Georgia Herschel Walker addresses the media at a campaign event September 9, 2022 in Gwinnett, Georgia.

Megan Varner | Getty Images

Walker raised $50,000 during that interview alone, a source close to his Senate bid told NBC News on Tuesday. The person called the catch a record for the campaign.

Walker’s Democratic rival, incumbent Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock, has beaten the Republican in campaign fundraising. In its most recent quarter of fundraising, Warnock’s campaign averaged nearly $292,000 per day, NBC reported.

According to OpenSecrets, Warnock’s campaign has raised more than $60 million to date, versus approximately $20 million raised by Walker.

Despite Warnock’s fundraising advantage, the candidates appear to be neck and neck. Warnock is only just ahead of the survey average.

The Senate race in Georgia, a swing state where President Joe Biden narrowly defeated then-President Donald Trump in 2020, is one of several key elections that will determine which party controls the Senate after November’s midterm elections.

The fundraising money for the scandal-plagued GOP Senate hopeful came as top Republicans, including Trump, defended Walker against The Daily Beast’s bombshell report.

“Herschel has rightly denied the allegations made against him and I have no doubt that he is right,” Trump said in a statement on Tuesday on his Twitter-like platform Truth Social.

In a series of Twitter posts following the publication of The Daily Beast’s story, Walker’s adult son Christian accused his father of lying and threatening violence against family members.

“Every member of Herschel Walker’s family asked him not to run for office because we all knew (something of) his past. Every single one. He decided to give us the middle finger and air all his dirty laundry in public at the same time lying about it,” Christian Walker tweeted.

While the elder Walker hasn’t specifically responded to Christian’s claims, he said on Wednesday that he loves his son “unconditionally.” Walker added that he is “living proof that you can make mistakes and get up and move on.”

Walker, a 60-year-old former soccer star, has been campaigning for a scandal-plagued election. His ex-wife Cindy Grossman accused him of making death threats to her, and Walker confirmed he has more children than previously known.