A “Frontrunner” Who Hasn’t Even Launched Yet – The Latest on Georgia’s Chaotic GOP Primary

The chaos continues in Georgia GOP’s Senate primary as Herschel Walker, Trump’s hand-picked candidate and longtime Texas resident, freezes the field and worries many party faithful. Adding to the headache for the GOP, Congressman Buddy Carter — long rumored to be eying a Senate bid — deferred his own run, opting instead to be “right there behind [Herschel] 110%.”

Read more on Walker’s role in this chaotic GOP primary:

Trump sees Walker as ‘unstoppable’ candidate, but many in GOP are wary
Greg Bluestein, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

• Herschel Walker hasn’t lived in Georgia for decades. He’s never held public office, doesn’t attend the sort of Republican events that are mainstays on the political calendar and has bypassed the backslapping fundraising circuit that helps decide winners and losers in the state’s premier races.

• And yet Walker is viewed by many Republicans as the front-runner in next year’s GOP primary to challenge U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, even though he hasn’t yet entered the race that other contenders joined weeks ago.

• Walker’s sudden rise in Georgia politics from his estate in Texas has alternately energized, mystified and frustrated state conservatives…

• It was Trump who publicly urged Walker to run shortly after his own election defeat, saying his old friend would be “unstoppable.” And it was Trump last week who said on a conservative radio show that Walker was readying to run.

• “He told me he’s going to, and I think he will,” Trump said. “I had dinner with him a week ago. He’s a great guy. He’s a patriot. He’s a very loyal person.”

• Walker has only confirmed he’s still considering a bid, but his likely candidacy is an open secret in Georgia’s political world. In recent weeks, he’s lined up advisers and started building the foundation of a campaign. Senior Republicans who once heard zip from Walker now see him as a surefire contender.

• And he must move to Georgia from Texas, where he’s lived most of his adult life, to woo a conservative base that knows him for his athletic legend.

• Even the hint of a Trump endorsement in the race has kept well-known Georgia figures out of the race.

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