A group supporting Herschel Walker gave out gas vouchers. Georgia Democrats cried foul.

ATLANTA — A gas-money giveaway in help of Herschel Walker, the Republican candidate for Senate in Georgia, drew the ire of Democrats and voting rights teams within the state, who mentioned the transfer was each hypocritical and presumably unlawful.

The occasion, organized by the pro-Walker PAC 34N22, aimed to focus on rising fuel costs and tie the problem to Senator Raphael Warnock, a Democrat who will run for re-election towards Mr. Walker in November. The group handed out $25 gasoline vouchers and Walker marketing campaign flyers to motorists in line at a fuel station in downtown Atlanta on Saturday as volunteers held indicators saying, “Warnock isn’t working.”

A number of Democrats and leaders of voting rights teams criticized the occasion, pointing to a provision of the state’s voting legislation that bans volunteers from handing out water or snacks to voters whereas they’re ready in line. Handing out fuel vouchers on behalf of a politician to motorists who’re in line on the pump, they argued, ought to be thought of simply as illegal.

In an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Structure, State Consultant Bee Nguyen, a Democrat who’s working for Secretary of State in Georgia, cited a 2020 incident through which she mentioned a state investigator had demanded that volunteers at a polling place in Metro Atlanta take away all snacks and water.

“Gifting away fuel vouchers and Herschel Walker flyers on the identical time isn’t authorized,” she mentioned. “Are they going to do one thing about it?”

A memo from Mr. Walker’s lawyers shared after the occasion denied any wrongdoing, saying the fuel vouchers had been distributed “with out situation” and that no voters who acquired the vouchers had been required to vote, register to vote or help any political candidate.

“Warnock’s marketing campaign is upset about 34N22’s neighborhood outreach program, not due to any earnest authorized issues, however as a result of they don’t need the general public to know Warnock has contributed to report fuel costs and the ache Georgians are feeling on the pump,” the memo reads.

Mr. Warnock’s marketing campaign didn’t touch upon the occasion.

Mr. Walker’s marketing campaign denied any involvement with Saturday’s voucher giveaway after a video surfaced displaying Angela Stanton-King, a Walker marketing campaign volunteer, crediting Mr. Walker for the fuel voucher occasion. Marketing campaign legal guidelines bar candidates from instantly influencing or cooperating with PACs that help them.

“Herschel Walker determined, ‘You realize what, we’re going to do that free fuel giveaway for the neighborhood. I would like them to know that I care,’” mentioned Ms. Stanton-King, a former U.S. Home candidate who was pardoned in 2020 by former President Donald J. Trump for her position in a car-theft ring, within the video.

The Saturday occasion — and ensuing backlash — present the most recent have a look at what’s prone to be a bitter and costly battle for the Senate seat.

Two days earlier than the occasion, Mr. Warnock launched a tv commercial attacking Mr. Walker for his embrace of an aerosol product he claimed may take away Covid-19 from one’s physique upon entry to a constructing. The previous few seconds of the advert, entitled “Snake Oil,” flash the phrases: “Is Herschel Walker actually able to symbolize Georgia?” as footage performs of Mr. Walker explaining the therapy in an interview.