With early voting now underway — and polls at precincts to open in less than three weeks — U.S. Senate candidate Herschel Walker outlined why he should unseat Raphael Warnock to a Saturday morning rally. 

Speaking to a crowd of about 150 supporters, Walker, the former college and professional football star, said Warnock has aligned himself with President Biden and policies that have hurt Americans.

“We can’t wait anymore,” Walker said. “We have to step up right now. Because right now, we see what’s going on in this country. We’ve got to get leaders in this country that are going to stand up for America, that’s going to stand up for Georgia, that’s going stand up for our military, that’s going to stand up for our men and women in blue, that’s going to stand up for our kids.”

Walker said “woke” social practices are being forced into children at school.

“Our kids are being taught to hate themselves because of their skin color,” he said.

Walker easily won a crowded Republican primary in May to earn the nomination to go up against Warnock. Warnock was the top vote-getter in a 2020 special election to fill the remainder of the late Johnny Isakson’s six-year term. Isakson, citing health reasons, resigned from the Senate in 2020.

Because he did not get a majority of the votes, Warnock was forced into a runoff with then-Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who had been appointed to replace Isakson. Warnock won the runoff to serve the rest of the term.

Walker and Warnock, pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, the same pulpit once held by the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., staged their first — and likely only — debate Friday night in Savannah.

“The man who was in the church he is in used to talk about it’s not the color of your skin but the content of your character,” Walker said, referring to Rev. Warnock’s current pastorage and one of Dr. King’s famous quotes. “We need to get back to that. We’re not just Black, white, yellow, brown — we’re Americans.”

Walker said law enforcement faces a tougher task now because criminals have been emboldened through current policies and such movements as “defund the police.”

“We have leaders in Washington who have shown no respect for our law enforcement,” he said. “We have to get behind our men and women in blue.”

Leaders across the globe also are looking at the U.S. and taking note of current priorities within the military, Walker said.

“China and Iran and Russia are not talking about pronouns,” he said. “They are talking about war.”

Walker, who did not take questions from the media following the rally, has faced a series of attacks from Warnock’s campaign, many centering on allegations of Walker’s behavior toward his now ex-wife. Walker, who has stated a pro-life stance, also has been hit with recent allegations that he paid for a girlfriend’s abortion. Walker has refuted those charges.

Warnock has voted with President Biden 96% of the time, Walker said, and Walker added Warnock said he would stand up for women yet has backed transgenders playing in women’s sports.

“He said he was going to ‘back the blue,’ but he’s called them thugs and bullies,” Walker added. “He said Black lives matter, but he supports abortion on demand.”

Walker charged that re-electing Warnock — the Georgia Senate battle is seen as key to control of the chamber, which is currently split at 50-50 between Republicans and Democrats — and President Biden’s continued policies will further harm Americans’ livelihood.

“Can you take six more years of this?” he asked. “It’s time for us to stand up, wake up and get up. It doesn’t matter about your color. It matters that we’ve got to be Americans, and love the Constitution and fight together.”