So much for “candidate quality.” Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell is scheduled to host a fundraiser tonight to help Herschel Walker, the former football star running a bizarre campaign for the U.S. Senate in Georgia. Walker wants to send the Rev. Raphael Warnock, who has represented Georgia in the Senate since January 2021, back to his pulpit at Atlanta’s historic Ebenezer Baptist Church. It’s just that his campaign tactics aren’t exactly ripped from a winning playbook.
Since launching his campaign, Walker has been caught in lies about his ties to law enforcement (while criticizing Democrats over rising crime and their support for law enforcement), how many children he actually has (while criticizing absentee fathers) and his educational credentials (he never graduated from college despite repeatedly claiming he finished at the top of his class from the University of Georgia). His campaign aides have admitted, at least anonymously, to not trusting a word he says. He’s criticized programs to aid minority business owners while his own company benefits from those programs. And so on.
Walker has behaved so oddly on the campaign trail that when McConnell said last month that it looked more likely Republicans could retake the House than the Senate, because of “candidate quality”, everyone assumed he had just gotten off a 15-minute strategy call with Walker and was letting off a little steam. But always a company man. good ol’ Mitch is apparently going to show up, tuck in his jowl and ask the GOP faithful to cut Herschel a check. How nice of him.
Maybe some of the cash from the fundraiser will help pay for a tutor for Walker who’s preparing for his Oct. 14 debate with Warnock in Savannah. He told reporters this week not to expect much of him in the debate because he’s a “country boy” who’s “not that smart” compared to the city-slick theologian Warnock.
We’ll all have our popcorn ready.