THOMASVILLE — As much as the Republican candidates for Raphael Warnock’s U.S. Senate seat are trying to set themselves as the best opponent for the incumbent, they also have their sights set on the apparent front-runner.

Herschel Walker, the former University of Georgia football star and Heisman Trophy winner, has held a commanding lead in most polls taken among Republican voters. That didn’t dissuade the other candidates — current state Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black, business owner Kelvin King and business owner and former state legislator Josh Clark at the Thomas County Republican Party event from proclaiming their beliefs they are the best to take on Warnock in November. 

Also running for the Republican nomination are former Brig. Gen. Jonathan McCollum and former Navy SEAL Latham Saddler.

Black, who has been ag commissioner for 12 years, said this election is about stopping a liberal agenda in the nation’s capital.

“We must win and winning this election is vital to the security fo this country, vital to the security of our homes and it’s also vital to the security of this economy,” he said. “That security has been compromised by the failures of a president who is lost in many ways. It is compromised by a vice president who is missing. it is compromised by radical leadership in both houses of the United States Congress.”

King said federal government spending is out of control and needs to be reined in.

“We have to stop this crazy spending,” he said. “We are spending our future away. To get out of a hole, you have to stop digging.” 

Clark told the crowd he was alarmed at how fast the national debt had grown, from $13 trillion 12 years ago to $31 trillion now.

“I fear we are that point of no return if we don’t get it right,” he said. 

While most national polls point toward Republicans taking back control of the Senate and perhaps the House too in November, Clark cautioned fellow Republicans not to take the mid-terms wins for granted.

“I am thankful for the red wave,” he said, “but we have to make sure this red wave carries proven conservatives who fight for the next generation and not just the next election.”

King also warned conservatives that more work needs to be done.

“This race is different,” he said. “We know this is going to be a red wave. Let’s not let it miss, Georgia. We can’t sleep on these people.”

King also pointed out that Warnock has amassed a larger campaign treasury than any other Senate candidate across the nation.

“That tells you the Democrats think they can keep this seat,” he said. “They see a front runner they think is weak.”

Black said the last four weeks before the May 24 primary are the “closing argument” for his campaign.

“We have (four) more weeks of being in court,” he said. 

The two biggest problems facing the nation right now, Black emphasized, are inflation and immigration. Black told the audience he returned just recently from a second trip to the U.S.-Mexico border.

“I have been on the border at the middle of the night with customs and border patrol agents who are demoralized,” he said. “We have turned them into Disney World hosts.”

Black said more than 838,000 people have crossed into the U.S. illegally since last October, and 13,800 of them are from Russia. 

Black added he wants to classify the drug cartels as terrorist organizations. 

“Let’s seize their assets  and put them on notice that we are bringing the war to them,” he said. 

Central American nations also bear a part in curbing the number of people crossing the border illegally, Black said.

“We’re willing to help,” he said. “But you’ve got to stop it at your border. We have to roll up our red carpet and get serious about enforcing the law.”

King said there is something the government to help stem the tide.

“Let’s finish our border wall, please,” he said. “ country that is not secure with a strong military is not a strong sovereign country.”

King, who is Black, said he also presents a problem for Democrats. He said he’s learned how to debate and can do so “with the best of them.”

“The Democrats don’t like a Republican like me,” he said. “Because I can call them out. I grew up in a bad, tough environment. I know what it takes to thrive. It takes grit, hard work and a little bit of opportunity. 

“We want to be able to make a living,” King continued. “We to educate our children. And we want to be safe. I can make these arguments wrapped in a Republican message.” 

Clark cited his upbringing as one of 10 children on a small farm near Suwannee in Gwinnett County, son to a pastor and a mother who homeschooled him.

“Every generation of America has risen to the occasion, and that’s why the slogan on my bus says ‘Overcoming Together,’” Clark said. “But there is no time to waste. There is no time to get this wrong.”

Inflation, now at a 40-year high, is hurting Americans everyone, Black said.

“This inflation problem is affecting all of us,” he said. “We have to get back to where we have a budget, like all of us have a budget at home. The federal government  should have a budget and not just continuing resolutions.” 

Clark also espoused his belief that politicians should be in Washington for a limited time.

“I see public service as a season, not a lifetime career,” he said.

 King, an Air Force Academy graduate and former Air Force officer, remarked how his mother was just 15 when he was born in Macon. 

“I was clearly unplanned,” he said, “but thank God for my mother and my father seeing value in my life.”

King said his campaign is based on the tenets of freedom, opportunity and American exceptionalism. He pointed out he’s gone from a home where his father began doing drugs and then subjugated the family to domestic violence to owning his own company with a 12,000 square foot building near the Atlanta Braves’ Truist Park.

“That is my story of the American dream. And it’s my mother’s dream,” he said. “But that American dream is at risk right now “

King also played football at Air Force.

“There is another football player in this race,” he said.. “I played football too. i was pretty good.”

While Warnock and the Democrat majority in Washington provided targets for the candidates’ barbs, so too did Walker. 

Black charged that Walker had never voted until 2020 and is ignoring the voters.

“I am happy to go anywhere, anytime and debate the issues in front of Republicans,” he said. “Herschel has said he is not debating because debating Republicans is a game. The future and the security of this country and my 18-month-old grandson is not a game. It is not a game. I challenge him today to come out, anytime and anywhere, and we will talk about the serious issues.”

Clark said he told Walker the former football star couldn’t beat Warnock in November.

“It’s not about who is the celebrity in this race,” Clark said. “it’s about the next generation.”