ATLANTA — Herschel Walker was absent at the Atlanta Press Club’s U.S. Senate debate, opening the door to jeers from incumbent Democrat Sen. Raphael Warnock and Libertarian candidate Chase Oliver.

Walker, the Donald Trump-backed Republican candidate, was represented by an empty podium.

“I think it’s important to point out that my opponent, Herschel Walker is not here, and I think that half of being a senator is showing up,” said Warnock in response to a moderator question on the push for voting rights legislation. “I have shown up for the people of Georgia time and time again especially on this issue of voting rights. We’ll have to figure out how to get through whatever bridge we need to procedurally, until we get voting rights secured for every Georgian.”

During the Oct. 16 debate, opponents had an opportunity to ask a question to their contenders.

Warnock chose to question Walker’s history of violence against women.

“One of the things he said in response to this, he suggested that I’m a preacher that doesn’t believe in redemption … I believe in redemption and one of the things I’ve learned about redemption is that you have to confess, you have to acknowledge and be honest about the problem, and he has not done that,” Warnock said. “At the end of the day, this race is not about who’s been redeemed. This race is about who’s ready to represent the people of Georgia in the United States Senate.”

Oliver asked Walker’s empty podium why he agreed to only one debate, the Oct. 14 debate hosted by Nexstar Media Group in Savannah, in which only the major party candidates (Republican and Democrat) were invited.

“If you’re going to represent the state of Georgia, you need to be able to show up, and I think Republicans need to know now that there’s a candidate who’s willing to show up anytime, anywhere,” Oliver said. “I’m gonna stand up for small government, lower taxes, and a platform that relies on trusting you and not letting the government make every decision for you. And Herschel, I guess, was scared to have competition on stage trying to speak that message.”

Oliver also questioned Warnock’s support of the “Inflation Reduction Act,” stating the bill doesn’t reduce inflation as intended.

“The fact is, is people aren’t reading the bills in Washington, D.C. They’re getting the bills handed to them by leadership. There’s not real debate. There’s not real amendments. It’s not real legislating,” Oliver said. “We have leadership handing the bills at the end of the day and you’re voting on them the next day … a 1,000-page bill … and if I’m elected United States Senate, we will have somebody who is reading the bills.”

Appearing confident in being reelected to the Senate seat, Warnock asked Oliver for suggestions on how he could overcome the partisan divide in the senate, amid his ranking as the 18th most bipartisan senator by Lugar Center and the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University.

“Even the most bipartisan of Senators isn’t really doing a lot of work across the aisle. And the fact is, this is because there’s this hyper-partisanship that we have nothing is getting done,” Oliver responded. “…This is going to require somebody to step outside of their partisan circle and sit down with everybody regardless of their political affiliation, and I just don’t see that coming from Republicans or Democrats.”

In response to moderator questions, Oliver voiced support for modernizing U.S. Veterans Affairs to allow veterans to have access to benefits at all hospitals, and lack of support for strict gun laws.

Walker said he supports the Second Amendment right to bear arms, but still believes in “reasonable” gun safety.

“I’m proud that for the first time in 30 years, we passed a gun safety law (the Safer Communities Act) on a bipartisan basis,” the incumbent said. “I think that if the Senate were more responsive to where the people are on the left and the right we could get more done. Most Americans support universal background checks. Why can’t we get that done? Because too often the voices of the people have been stripped out of their own democracy by all of this dark money.”

During the heated Oct. 14 debate between Walker and Warnock, Walker frequently linked Warnock with Pres. Joe Biden’s policies and blamed Warnock for inflation and the current state of the economy.

Abortion was also a focus during that debate as Walker changed his previous position on supporting a total abortion ban nationally. He said he instead supports Georgia’s new law that bans abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, typically at six-weeks of pregnancy.

He attacked Warnock’s support for abortion and the right for women to choose.

“Instead of aborting those babies, why aren’t you baptizing those babies?” Walker asked.

Warnock pointed out several untruths told be Walker during his campaigns, including Walker’s claims that he worked in law enforcement.

Walker pulled out a badge, believed to be an honorary badge from from a law enforcement agency.

“One thing I have not done, I’ve never pretended to be a police officer,” Warnock said.

Georgia’s U.S. Senate matchup is a key race nationally in determining which party controls the Senate. Following Election Day Nov. 8, it is expected that the race will head to a runoff between Walker and Warnock.

Several polls show Warnock leading Walkers by at least 2%.

Early voting started Oct. 17.