Herschel Walker’s Campaign Is Ending With a Thud

Georgia's Republican Lieutenant Governor went on TV and announced he couldn't bring himself to vote for his party's candidate.

Credit: Nathan Posner/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Credit: Nathan Posner/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

After waiting an hour to vote in Georgia’s runoff Senate election, the state’s Republican Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan just couldn’t do it. When it came time to look at options in the voting booth, Duncan said he wasn’t able to bring himself to vote for his party’s candidate, Republican Herschel Walker.

"I was one of those folks who got in line and spent about an hour waiting, and it was the most disappointing ballot I've ever stared at in my entire life since I started voting," Duncan told CNN. "I had two candidates that I just couldn't find anything that made sense for me to put my vote behind, and so I walked out of that ballot box showing up to vote but not voting for either one of them."

What’s startling is not Duncan’s behavior, but that he told the country about it on TV.

Others in his party, including Sens. Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham and newly re-elected Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, have rallied around Walker, but bad news continued to break for his campaign this week, including the release of information about his residency and past romantic relationships.

The Walker team is no longer full of hope like it had been prior to the midterm elections. Walker’s media appearances are limited to only conservative outlets, while his team is setting up barricades to keep reporters away during rallies and begging for money just days before the runoff ends.
 

Part of the bad vibes around Walker’s candidacy is probably due to the post-midterms bigger picture of the Senate’s composition. Even if Walker wins, his victory won’t help the GOP flip the Senate, as Democrats already picked up a 50th seat last month with Catherine Cortez-Masto’s win in Nevada. “Core Republican voters just can’t get fired up about Walker, and they came out in the general because they liked Kemp or their congressional candidates,” the CEO of TargetSmart, a D.C.-based political marketing and data firm, told NBC News. “But Walker wasn’t the reason, and they’re not coming out for Walker.”

Former President Barack Obama was on the ground in Georgia last night, joining Senator Raphael Warnock, Walker’s opponent, at a rally. Obama, who was in prime form on the stump, even took the opportunity to mock Herschel’s viral comments about wanting to be a “werewolf, not a vampire.” ​​"As far as I'm concerned, he can be anything he wants to be except for a United States senator," Obama joked at one point.

Thankfully, this race, which feels like it started 4,000 years ago, will come to a close next Tuesday.