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OPINION | Trump's shadow looms over Herschel Walker in the runoff for Georgia's Senate seat

2022-12-02T23:31:43.832Z


Herschel Walker has to run from Trump's shadow if he wants to win Georgia's Senate seat, but no magic trick is powerful enough.


Runoff in Georgia for Senate seat 3:38

Editor's Note:

Frida Ghitis, (@fridaghitis) a former producer and correspondent for CNN, is a world affairs columnist.

She is a weekly opinion contributor for CNN, a columnist for The Washington Post and a columnist for the World Politics Review.

The opinions expressed in this comment belong solely to its author.

See more opinions on CNN.

(CNN) --

Herschel Walker, the former football star now seeking to become a Republican senator from Georgia, needs to pull a trick up his sleeve.


Georgians are already lining up to vote in the Dec. 6 runoff between Walker and Sen. Raphael Warnock.

The Democratic incumbent narrowly defeated Walker earlier this month but fell short of the 50% mark required by state law, thanks to the presence, also, of a Libertarian candidate, leading to a runoff.

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A repeat of a close race means both candidates have a tough job ahead of them.

Above all, they must get their supporters back to the polls.

Then they should add to their totals.

But the challenge is much greater for Walker for several reasons.

The main reason has a name.

It starts with "T" and ends with "rump."

Yes, former President Donald Trump, who practically nominated Walker as the Republican nominee, is one of the biggest obstacles standing between him and the Senate.

To win the runoff, Walker needs to convince those who voted for him to do it again, but he also needs to appeal to Republicans and independents who don't like Trump.

Here's the dilemma: To ignite enthusiasm among Trumpists to vote again, you need to feed them the political red meat that keeps your MAGA supporters energized.

But that's the same menu that can make other voters you need nauseous.

The phenomenon was evident last week.

Just over 24 hours after a shooter in Colorado Springs, Colo., went on a rampage at an LGBTQ nightclub, killing five people, Walker released a new ad attacking transgender athletes, a favorite topic in many Republican campaigns. .

The anti-transgender ad was meant to appeal to frightened conservatives, especially older voters, who worry that social change is making the country unrecognizable.

It was a move to get those already persuaded to the polls.

But the timing of the announcement, the Monday after the weekend shooting, had the ring of Trumpian callousness.

In fact, every move to base risks boosting Warnock's appeal, just as much of Trump's rhetoric between the general election and the Georgia runoff two years ago helped Warnock, along with the now Senator Jon Ossoff, to win his races, giving Democrats control of the Senate.

Trump battled Gov. Brian Kemp in 2020 after the general election, depressing Republican turnout and boosting Democrats.

Kemp, it will be recalled, faced pressure from Trump to overturn the election results.

The Republican, very conservative, resisted that pressure.

Trump also recruited David Perdue, the former Republican senator he supported but defeated in 2020, to run against Kemp for governor in this year's GOP primary.

Perdue suffered a humiliating defeat, providing a preview of how toxic the former president was becoming to Republicans.

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It's no secret that Walker appears to be totally disqualified from being a senator.

But the MAGA segment of the party was joined by many skeptics of Trump, the party above the candidate, because control of the Senate was at stake.

Nearly 2 million Republicans voted for Walker in the midterm elections.

Even so, he received the fewest votes of any Republican running for state office in Georgia.

Strengthened by a decisive victory, Kemp is positioning himself as a prominent right-wing critic of the former president, blasting Trump for dining with a Holocaust-denying white supremacist last week.

Walker, like many Republicans, has remained silent on the issue.

Kemp received more than 200,000 votes above Walker's total, but has not campaigned with him until now.

By helping the GOP Senate candidate in the runoff, Kemp could get some credit if Walker wins.

If he doesn't, Kemp won't take the blame.

Other Republican leaders are flocking to the state to boost Walker's prospects.

Since Democrats have already won control of the Senate, the stakes in this election are much lower than they were in last year's runoff, so there is less incentive to vote.

But who benefits from that change?

In my opinion, Walker has the most to lose.

That's because his flaws as a candidate are so overwhelming.

It was easier to overlook them when the Senate was on the line, but not anymore.

It's hard to imagine a more imperfect candidate.

In an interview with ABC News, her ex-wife alleged that Walker threatened to kill her while they were married.

Her own son has insinuated that Walker is a hypocrite and a liar.

Although he has not denied the ex-wife's accusation of him, Walker has said that he had mental health problems that affected his behavior and memory of him and says that he has overcome those problems.

In case after case, Walker has turned out to be a practitioner of the behaviors he condemns.

He criticized absent parents, and then his son said that he was never around.

Instead of one child, it turns out that he has at least four.

According to a Daily Beast report from the summer, a judge ordered him to pay child support starting in 2014. Walker's campaign says he never "hid" the children and to suggest that is "offensive and absurd."

Then there is the issue of abortion.

Walker has said that he would be in favor of a total ban on abortion, with no exceptions.

But at least two women have alleged that she pressured them into abortions.

(Walker has denied the allegations, and CNN has not independently confirmed them.)

  • Herschel Walker 'strongly' denies reports that he paid for an abortion

In addition to a chaotic personal life, he has made false claims and exaggerated his academic and business achievements.

And when it comes to politics, she delivers a mix of inconsistencies that leave people scratching their heads.

One of his arguments against Warnock is that he aligns himself too closely with President Joe Biden.

Biden is, in fact, unpopular in Georgia.

But chances are, that won't be enough to propel Walker over the finish line.

During the midterm elections, voters sent a strong message of rejection to many of the most Trump-aligned and far-right candidates.

Walker may be trying to distance himself from his mentor: "This is not Trump's race. This is Herschel Walker's race," he said on Fox Business earlier this month, but he's not misleading voters.

Polls show that independents favor Warnock over Walker by significant margins.

So do young people.

Walker's support tends to be among those over 45.

Older adults tend to be more reliable voters, so that's Walker's potential path to victory.

That's why he's running ads about transgender athletes, hoping it will horrify those voters into going to the polls.

But those ads are just as likely to energize young voters, many of whom support LGBTQ rights and hold negative views of Trump and his politics.

The former American football player faces the most difficult match of his life.

Walker has to run from Trump's shadow.

Now that his soccer days are over, he's trying his hand at magic.

Pulling an ace up your sleeve means keeping Trump out of voters' minds.

There is no hocus-pocus powerful enough for that.

Donald TrumpElections in Georgia

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2022-12-02

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