Midterm campaign updates: GOP's Cheney endorses Ohio Democrat Tim Ryan for Senate

The drama has been back East: a colorful matchup in Pennsylvania between two outsized personalities, an ambitious Florida governor who hosted the president this week and a political storm in Georgia is testing trust and loyalties surrounding the GOP Senate candidates.

But those states might not matter nearly as much depending on what happens out West. Senate and gubernatorial races in Arizona and Nevada -- and perhaps a Senate campaign in Colorado as well -- are no longer being overlooked and could be where majorities are won or lost, with the stakes even higher going into 2024.

Issues surrounding the southern border and inflation are particularly resonant and intense in those states, and conspiracy theories around the last election have flourished inside the state GOPs. New polling from CNN confirms concerns that have been growing among Democrats -- and optimism that's been growing among Republicans.

Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto is in a virtual tie with her Republican opponent, Adam Laxalt, trailing 46%-48%, while Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly is leading Republican Blake Masters 51%-46%, according to the CNN survey. Kelly and Masters faced off for their first and most likely only debate of the election cycle on Thursday night.

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–ABC News’ Rick Klein

But that choice is not without criticism as some outside experts note it has strategic value, too.

"Candidates who are ahead in the polls and believe that they will be able to win without debates are advantaged by not debating. They will find a reason to justify their decision -- and in this case, what you're seeing is a reason to justify a decision among candidates who believe they're going to be able to win without debating," Kathleen Hall Jamieson, a political scientist at the University of Pennsylvania and director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, told ABC News.

Some major Republicans, like Nevada Senate hopeful Adam Laxalt, have so far also opted against debates.

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–ABC News’ Libby Cathey, Paulina Tam and Will McDuffie

What Herschel Walker has survived as a Senate candidate has already been remarkable.

What Walker has to fend off and explain away from here will be another level entirely.

A Daily Beast report alleging that the GOP Senate candidate in Georgia paid the cost of a woman's abortion brought a swift denial from Walker Monday night, as well as a threat of a lawsuit. Then came a tweet thread from his adult son -- a well-known conservative personality in his own right -- bringing new allegations and pronouncing himself "done" with his father's campaign.

"Every family member of Herschel Walker asked him not to run for office, because we all knew (some of) his past," tweeted Christian Walker, who has often used his voice to praise Republican politicians, though seldom his father.

The candidate's Fox News appearance late Monday is unlikely to calm GOP jitters about his campaign. He called the Daily Beast's claim a "flat-out lie," and explained a bank deposit receipt with an image of a $700 check that appeared to be signed by Walker by saying, "I send money to a lot of people."

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–ABC News’ Rick Klein

Herschel Walker, a Georgia football icon and U.S. Senate hopeful, has denied a report in the Daily Beast that an ex-girlfriend claimed he paid the cost of her abortion more than 10 years ago, a claim that would seem to contradict his anti-abortion posture on the campaign trail.

Walker, a Republican, immediately denied the claim and promised to file a defamation lawsuit against the Daily Beast, which published the story, on Tuesday morning. Walker later appeared on Fox News Channel's "Hannity," where he issued additional denials.

"I can tell you right now, I never asked anyone to get an abortion," Walker told Sean Hannity. "I never paid for an abortion -- it's a lie."

The Daily Beast reported Monday that an unidentified woman who claimed to be Walker's ex-girlfriend said she sought a medical abortion after the couple conceived in 2009. The woman shared documentation with the news outlet: a receipt from an abortion clinic, a bank deposit receipt with an image of a $700 check that appeared to be signed by Walker sent within a week of the abortion and a "get well" card that appeared to be signed by Walker.

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–ABC News’ Lalee Ibssa