Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) confirmed on Tuesday that the Republican party will “stick with” Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker in the wake of a bombshell Daily Beast report last week that accused him of allegedly paying for a former girlfriend’s abortion thirteen years ago, Axios reported.

“I think we’re going to stick with Walker and all the effort we put in through SLF [Senate Leadership Fund], we’re going take it all the way to the end,” McConnell told CNN.

“I talk to him fairly often. I think they’re going to hang in there and scrap to the finish,” he continued.

Walker's face-off against Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA), is viewed as one of the nation’s most important Senate matchups, as it could potentially determine which party controls the Senate for the final two years of President Joe Biden’s term.

New polling from Emerson College and The Hill showed that 48 percent of Georgia voters say they support Warnock, while 46 percent say they back Walker, who has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump. Since the last poll in August, Warnock’s support has trekked higher by four points and Walker’s support has decreased by two points.

The Daily Beast report claimed that Walker in 2009 urged an unnamed woman to get an abortion after she became pregnant while they were dating. The woman, who wished to remain anonymous due to privacy concerns, supported her claim with a receipt from an abortion clinic and a bank deposit receipt showing that Walker reimbursed her $700 for the procedure. The news outlet also reported that the same woman is the mother of one of Walker’s children.

Walker has acknowledged having four children—three of whom were born out of wedlock.

On Tuesday, per Politico, Walker said that he knows the identity of the woman who accused him of paying for her abortion but that he had not spoken to her since the article was published.

“I know nothing about an abortion. I knew it was a lie and I said it was a lie—and I just move on. And that’s why I said it’s sad that people said October surprise, but you’re destroying families,” the former college and pro football star told ABC News.

“This race is too important for me to give up or for me to stop. So, October surprise is not going to faze me,” he continued.

Ethen Kim Lieser is a Washington state-based Finance and Tech Editor who has held posts at Google, The Korea Herald, Lincoln Journal Star, AsianWeek, and Arirang TV. Follow or contact him on LinkedIn.

Image: Reuters