Source: Politics<\/p>\n
After news broke that Senate candidate Herschel Walker had allegedly paid for a girlfriend\u2019s abortion in 2009, Republicans rallied around his imperiled candidacy.<\/p>\n
Walker, the GOP nominee from Georgia, was already dogged by reports of past domestic violence \u2014 some of which he has acknowledged. Now he has put their top Senate pickup opportunity in peril with reports of behavior that directly violated his hard-line stance on abortion.<\/p>\n
Republicans had another Todd Akin<\/a> on their hands, some Republican strategists said to each other in text messages, referring to the Missouri Republican whose comments about \u201clegitimate rape\u201d in the 2012 general election cost the party a seat it was supposed to clinch. Others likened Walker to Roy Moore<\/a>, the Alabama Republican who lost the deep-red state to a Democrat in 2017 after allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced.<\/p>\n But the GOP has little choice but to double down in support of Walker \u2014 a flawed candidate party operatives said still remains one of their last hopes of flipping control of the narrowly divided Senate chamber this year amid a shrinking map<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen the Democrats are losing, as they are right now, they lie and cheat and smear their opponents,\u201d Sen. Rick Scott<\/a>, chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee said Tuesday, echoing in his statement similar comments from other Republicans who dared to publicly weigh in on the allegations, though most incumbents remained silent on the matter while at home during Senate recess. The claims were reported Monday by the Daily Beast; POLITICO has not independently verified the Daily Beast\u2019s reporting.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s what\u2019s happening right now,\u201d Scott continued. \u201cThey know they are on the verge of losing the Senate, and they know that Herschel Walker is winning, so they have cranked up the smear machine.\u201d<\/p>\n Scott, putting on a brave face \u2014 similar to the president of Republicans\u2019 top Senate super PAC \u2014 said the Senate committee remained fully committed to the Georgia race, where the NRSC announced last week it was splitting a new $8.5 million ad buy with the Walker campaign. Scott likened the situation to sexual assault and harassment allegations brought against Supreme Court Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas, and suggested he believed Walker\u2019s denial of the claim that he paid for the woman\u2019s abortion 13 years ago.<\/p>\n While conceding that the latest allegation presented a public relations problem, in interviews with more than a dozen Republican strategists, operatives downplayed its likely effect. They suggested a wait-and-see approach and largely avoided conceding that Georgia\u2019s first October surprise spelled an end to Walker\u2019s chances.<\/p>\n A top Republican strategist working on Senate races said it still remains to be seen how much the new revelation will matter, noting the extensive media coverage about Walker\u2019s alleged domestic violence and the television ads that have already attacked him over the issue.<\/p>\n \u201cThe reality is the Democrats have been running ads for two months saying Herschel tried to murder his ex-wife,\u201d the strategist said of claims by Cindy Grossman that Walker held a gun to her head. \u201cI don\u2019t know that this moves the needle.\u201d<\/p>\n Through a spokesperson, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell<\/a> \u2014 who has repeatedly expressed concern about GOP \u201ccandidate quality\u201d this year \u2014 did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n Recent polling shows Walker and Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock<\/a> consistently trading the lead in a margin-of-error race. Walker was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, who defended his ally in a statement: \u201cThey are trying to destroy a man who has true greatness in his future, just as he had athletic greatness in his past. It\u2019s very important for our Country and the Great State of Georgia that Herschel Walker wins this Election.\u201d<\/p>\n To date this cycle, Republicans have spent $67 million on ads in Georgia, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact, a state they\u2019ve seen as one of their top opportunities to flip a Senate seat. The GOP has another $34 million worth of ads booked through the election, putting Democrats on track to outspend them by more than $20 million.<\/p>\n Ralph Reed, founder and chair of the conservative evangelical Faith & Freedom Coalition, who has in recent months defended Walker and his commitment to his Christian faith, on Tuesday continued to do so, saying that \u201can anonymous allegation that is 13 years old is unlikely to resonate with Georgia voters.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cVoters are far more likely to vote based on inflation, the economy, high gas prices, and the failure of Biden policies, which Raphael Warnock has supported 96 percent of the time,\u201d Reed said, naming Walker\u2019s Democratic opponent. He added that \u201cWarnock is tied to Biden.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat will matter more than personal attacks against Herschel, which have not substantially changed the dynamics of this campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n On whether the revelations might impact Republicans nationwide, Jahan Wilcox, a GOP strategist who previously worked for multiple senators and as a national press secretary for the NRSC, said it won\u2019t.<\/p>\n \u201cMidterm elections are and always have been a referendum on the current White House, and voters will judge President Biden on how he has handled inflation, energy prices and crime,\u201d Wilcox said.<\/p>\n Kevin Bell, a volunteer with several local GOP groups in Georgia, said he doesn\u2019t believe voter sentiment will change as a result of this week\u2019s development.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s just going to fuel the fire for those who didn\u2019t want to vote for him in the first place,\u201d said Bell, who plans to continue his door-to-door canvassing for Walker. \u201cThat\u2019s all. And the ones who are on the fence, they may have to think about it a little bit more. But at the end of the day, those strong supporters are still going to vote for Herschel Walker. I guarantee.\u201d<\/p>\n While expressing concerns for the NRSC\u2019s lack of extensive state-level get-out-the-vote operations, Republicans are encouraged by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp\u2019s own voter mobilization efforts. Kemp, who is up for reelection and polling well ahead of Walker, has made a point to target GOP voters who sat out in 2020 and the state\u2019s January 2021 Senate runoffs as a result of Trump\u2019s disproven claims of a rigged election.<\/p>\n But Republicans expect Democrats to seize on the latest Walker scandal in a new barrage of ads, including highlighting Walker\u2019s own 22-year-old son\u2019s scathing criticism of him after the abortion news broke.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I would do if I was a Democrat is I would call him a fraud,\u201d said a GOP consultant who has worked on Senate races. \u201cVoters hate a lack of authenticity. He has built his entire post-NFL life on being a Christian and being a good person.\u201d<\/p>\n GOP consultant Chris Mottola noted the polarization of voters in Georgia, a state that, unlike Nevada, Arizona and other top battlegrounds, does not have a large share of swing voters and independents.<\/p>\n \u201cGiven the October surprise nature of the attack, voters will be raising questions as to the validity \u2014 think of it as Hunter Biden\u2019s laptop in utero,\u201d Mottola said.<\/p>\n In a possible sign of how much media attention the news was receiving, the Georgia Republican Party\u2019s website<\/a>, which was working Tuesday morning, could no longer be accessed as of 10:30 a.m., leading to a \u201c502 Bad Gateway\u201d error. It included contact information for the party and county chairs.<\/p>\n Danielle Repass, press secretary for the Georgia Republican Party, said the site \u201cis just experiencing a server error, it was not taken down intentionally\u201d and the state GOP is \u201choping to have it back up by the end of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n She added that the Georgia Republican Party is \u201cfully committed to ensuring Herschel Walker defeats Raphael Warnock this November.\u201d<\/p>\n Senate Leadership Fund President Steven Law said Tuesday morning the super PAC is moving \u201cfull speed ahead in Georgia,\u201d where it has $23 million in television and radio advertisements booked through Election Day.<\/p>\n The top Republican spending group, closely aligned with McConnell, has already spent $15.5 million on the race, according to AdImpact.<\/p>\n \u201cThis election is about the future of the country,\u201d Law said in a statement. \u201cHerschel Walker will make things better, Raphael Warnock is making it worse. Anything else is a distraction.\u201d<\/p>\n And the top anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony List, which endorsed Walker and has engaged in door-knocking on his behalf, also continues to stand by him.<\/p>\n Mallory Carroll, spokesperson for the group\u2019s Women Speak Out super PAC, said Walker had \u201cdenied these allegations in the strongest possible terms.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTo date, our Georgia field team has visited more than 310,000 homes across the state in support of pro-life candidates like Herschel and against the extremism of Sen. Warnock and Stacey Abrams, and we will continue through Election Day,\u201d Carroll said.<\/p>\n One Republican strategist, however, predicted that the odds of a run off between Walker and Warnock increased amid the latest scrutiny. Another noted that Democrats have thrown tens of millions \u201cworth of punches and attacks at Herschel so far, and Warnock still can\u2019t get to 50 percent in any poll.\u201d<\/p>\n