Walker’s “Rocky,” “Empty,” “Frustrating,” “Whole Lot of Nothing” Campaign Rollout Takes Centerstage in Chaotic #GASEN Primary

It’s been three weeks since Herschel Walker entered the chaotic primary for Georgia’s GOP Senate nomination — and it’s been going pretty much as expected for Trump’s handpicked political candidate. Here’s the latest:

• Georgians are frustrated as Herschel Walker fails to hold any public campaign events since announcing. Walker’s early campaign strategy appears to be “stay out of sight and severely limit his exposure to voters and the media” in order to limit mistakes — but the absentee approach is already frustrating Republicans. “I don’t know a lot about him,” said Julie Woods Hill, an Alpharetta activist at the GOP Fish Fry Walker no-showed. “There’s a lot of uncertainty still. Obviously, he’s not here and I just don’t know where he stands on the issues.” Tim Bryant, an Athens-based conservative commentator and WGAU radio host, took aim at Walker’s no-shows just this morning: “Nevermind holding his own events, he’s had a couple of occasions to show up at other Republican events that were already scheduled: fish fries, big county party gatherings, and he’s declined a couple of those — hasn’t shown up at any of them. … If that’s the strategy? Eh.”

• His first and only Georgia campaign event remains a closed-door fundraiser. Trump’s handpicked candidate has been in Georgia’s U.S. Senate race for nearly three weeks now and has held just one campaign event: a private fundraiser with high-dollar conservative donors two weeks ago. So far, Walker’s campaign has been summed up as “a whole lot of nothing.”

• Walker possibly breaks federal campaign spending law right out of the gate. Within days of kicking off his Senate bid, 11Alive reported that Herschel Walker’s political campaign potentially “violated the law by spending money as a political candidate before officially declaring his candidacy.” A formal complaint has been filed with the FEC requesting a swift investigation into violations by Walker and his campaign in the leadup to his Senate entrance. The complaint is “legitimate” and “has merit,” says attorney Marc Hershovitz, who has done campaign finance work on behalf of candidates in both parties. “It looks like what (Walker) was doing was teasing things along in order to have a big reveal. And that’s all nice and cute. But what he’s doing is, he’s breaking the law.”

• Fellow Republicans are rushing to tag the Trump-tapped candidate “as a political opportunist and damaged goods.”  A campaign spokesman for Gary Black called out Walker’s failure to show up and meet with Georgia voters, saying that  “there is a problem with Herschel that his team does not want us to know about” and comparing Walker winning the primary to “an extinction-level event.” 

• Divisions in Georgia Republicans’ chaotic Senate primary continue to grow. Within a week of entering the race, Walker already began flip-flopping on his support for Governor Kemp. After backing the governor in 2018, Walker is now refusing to support him, with his campaign noting that he “is not getting involved” in the race — while GOP leaders began throwing their weight behind opposing candidates in what is shaping up to be a long primary fight. 

“From skipping major events for closed-door fundraisers to avoiding interviews with Georgia press and saying little about where he stands on the issues that matter most, Walker is quickly morphing into a ready-made Republican politician,” said Dan Gottlieb, spokesman for the Democratic Party of Georgia.

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