Tonight, exactly one week before the Georgia senate runoff election, republican candidate Herschel Walker is on defense again, this time about whether he legally resides in the state of Georgia. CNN's K file reporting tonight that Walker himself earlier this year said, quote, I live in Texas.
He also said this while I was sitting. In my home in Texas, I was seeing what was going on in this country. But during a campaign rally just hours ago, Walker claimed that he's always been a Georgia resident.
I represent the great people of Georgia. I've lived here my whole life. Walker has been under fire over this already fending off questions about his residency after CNN's case file reported that Walker was getting a Texas tax break intended for a primary residence out front.
Now, Crystal is a CNN politics reporter and editor at large for more on this. Chris, this is not the first controversy that Herschel Walker has been dealing with since launching his senate campaign.
This is a new problem. This new problem, how does it stack up against all of the others that he said? Well, let me first say, Kate, that clip you played where Herschel Walker says, I've lived in Georgia my whole life is just not true, right?
I mean, he lived in Texas. He moved to Georgia to run for the Senate, which is fine, but just to do a little bit of a fact-check there. So I have two contradictory thoughts on how big an issue it is.
On the one hand, as you mentioned, walker has been through a lot in terms of allegations about paying for abortions, which he denied. The campaign has been hit with a lot throughout the campaign, and he's still standing, right?
And there's value in that, politically speaking. On the other hand, we are seven days away from the runoff, and this is a very close race. So when you talk about those things, Hershey Walker would rather not be talking about his residence.
See issues tonight. And tomorrow on the campaign trail. So little things can make a big difference when we're talking about a close race with really tight margins. Yeah, I mean, look, accusations of carpetbagging are a tried and true political move over ever since politics began.
I mean, from Bobby Kennedy, Hillary Clinton, Scott Brown, Mitt Romney, them, and Oz very recently. The resulting impact, though, on their success or failure in campaigning and running is a bit mixed, if you look at it these days.
Do these kinds of attacks, do you think do they have an impact? Do they matter? So I think the key is authenticity. Do you come off as authentic? Right, generally speaking. And I think in some ways where you're from and how you talk about where you're from matters there.
Let me take two examples. One, Hillary Clinton, who won, went on, if you remember, almost before she announced her Kennedy, but right when she did announce Kennedy. She went on a long tour of every county of New York, essentially as a way to combat the idea that she was just flying in.
She's from New York City and she wanted to be elected. The other extreme just happened. Mammoth was never able to prove that he was authentically from Pennsylvania. John Federman's campaign did a really good job of making it seem as though oz was a New Jersey guy who just happened to be in Pennsylvania because there was an open senate seat in Pennsylvania.
So authenticity is always the key in these campaigns, and that's when carpet bagging can matter. Interesting. It's good to see you, Chris. Thanks for coming in. Good to see you, Kate.