Herschel Walker has a good shot
Nice guys don't always finish last
The long-expected launch of Georgia football legend Herschel Walker’s campaign for the U.S. Senate has arrived.
Walker, who has been endorsed by and photographed with former President Donald Trump, comes into the race at a time when the Democrats are fractured over Afghanistan, President Joe Biden’s approval numbers are tanking, and Republicans want to capitalize on the chaos.
The thing is, as much as Walker’s candidacy represents a king-maker moment for Donald Trump and his influence in the GOP, there’s a bigger element at play here.
Herschel Walker is a genuine nice guy. There’s no fakery here. I’ve never heard a single report of Walker being anything but a gentleman: courteous, respectful, prepared, on-time, humble, and empathetic. A person like that, with Walker’s massive name recognition and almost sainthood status among native Georgians, could overcome the incumbent advantage that Sen. Raphael Warnock enjoys.
Remember, Warnock’s pedigree comes from being a Black advocate for racial justice, as a former occupant of Dr. Martin Luther King’s pulpit. But Warnock hasn’t really distinguished himself in the Senate, so he’s vulnerable. First, there hasn’t been time for Warnock to build any kind of legacy.
He took over from Kelly Loeffler, who was appointed by Gov. Brian Kemp. Loeffler took over Johnny Isakson’s term when he resigned due to health reasons. Warnock barely beat Loeffler in the January 6th runoff, after a complicated “jungle election,” eschewing party primaries, in November 2020. The main driver in Warnock’s victory was Trump’s harping on the “stolen election” narrative and literally encouraging Republican voters to stay home.
Isakson’s original term ends in 2022, which means Warnock had to immediately run again, with little time to do much in the Senate, so he has spent a lot of time in Georgia, touring places and basically campaigning.
The latest phone poll taken in early August by Public Policy Polling, has Biden’s job approval at 46 percent, and disapproval at 48 percent, with a 3 percent Democrat lean. Only 28 percent answered they had an unfavorable opinion of Herschel Walker, but split 43/42 percent on Warnock’s performance in office. Warnock has a 2 point lead in that poll over Walker, but Democrats tend to lean 3 points in these polls, so it’s really even.
The main effect of Walker’s entry may be to push other Republican candidates, like Gary Black (who is currently serving as Commissioner of Agriculture), out of the race. It’s clear that this is going to be a two-man contest, between two Black candidates, one a former preacher, and the other a beloved football star. Politics sometimes comes down to personality, and this race will almost surely fall into that category.
What Herschel Walker has going for him is that he’s a really nice guy, well spoken. He also has the Democrats going through a huge fire drill right now. In football parlance, Walker has a lane, and he has the ball. He definitely has a shot, at this point. Remember, it’s not necessarily about policy; it’s about voters exercising their voice to express their will, and all those GOP Biden crossover voters want the Senate to be firmly in their party’s control.
All that, plus, sometimes, nice guys don’t finish last.
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Seems like mental illness is the only requirement these days to run for GOP office. Or is that to still vote GOP? Either way I can't think of a candidate I would rather face as a democrat than a pro-football has been with a serious mental illness and a history of abuse and anger issues.
Interesting take Steve. For starters i dislike carpet-baggers. Doesn't matter which party, run for office where you live. Just my humble opinion.
Usually you can judge the character of a human by the company they keep. I don't care about 20 years ago when he put a gun to his wife's head or when he used to play Russian Roulette with friends who stopped by, all part of his illness. Perhaps he has recovered and is just fine.
I would however take Tim Miller's assessment from the Bulwark to heart and share with you and your readers this paragraph: "Herschel and Christian continued to bang the drum about fraud all the way up through Insurrection Day. In one of the many…many…tweets Christian sent about election fraud in January, he declared that to get a fair vote in Georgia, someone should “throw Stacey Abrams a bucket of Popeyes fried chicken to distract her.”
Christian is his son and again not interested in dragging his unique characteristics into the discussion. However, the minute walker becomes the voice of stupid regarding the big lie, he becomes one of them. Throwing more gas unto the fire, he helped stoke the flames of January 6 and beyond.
Nice Guy? Really? Sorry Steve not buying any of it. Nice guys don't feed the frenzy with lies and innuendo. They simply become part of the greatest con in the history of cons. Somebody bring in the band, strike up the music and then send in the clowns. Yet another in a long line of hanger-ons trying to suck off the trump teet.