Walker underperformed every Georgia Republican who ran in a statewide race this cycle.
Georgians dealt former president Donald Trump his final loss of the 2022 midterms on Tuesday night, rebuking Herschel Walker, who was handpicked by the former president and ran far behind other Republicans in the Peach State.
Democratic senator Raphael Warnock defeated Walker 51.35 to 48.65 percent, winning by more than 95,000 votes.
“A red state now has two blue senators because of one orange man,” conservative Georgia radio host Erick Erickson tweeted on Wednesday.
Republicans won every other statewide office in Georgia on Election Day, each with more than 50 percent of the vote.
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Every candidate Trump backed in the Georgia Republican primary, besides Walker and lieutenant governor candidate Burt Jones, lost. And Jones won by the lowest percentage of any Republican candidate in the state, winning with only 51.39 percent of the vote.
Walker’s defeat means that just two Trump-endorsed candidates for governor, Senate, and secretary of state in Biden-won swing states were successful, while 14 others were defeated.
Walker’s loss is the latest setback for Trump, who aimed to use the widely predicted midterm red wave to gin up enough support to secure the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. Trump has alienated many of his remaining allies in recent weeks, first by meeting with Kanye West and the loathsome white nationalist Nick Fuentes, and then by calling to suspend the U.S. Constitution over “massive fraud” in the 2020 election.
Walker’s son, Christian, claimed in a series of tweets on Tuesday that Trump called his father for months “DEMANDING that he run.”
“Everyone with a brain begged him: ‘PLEASE DON’T DO THIS. This is too dirty, you have an insane past… PLEASE DONT DO THIS,’” he tweeted. “We got the middle finger. He ran.”
“Don’t beat women, hold guns to peoples heads, fund abortions then pretend your pro-life, stalk cheerleaders, leave your multiple minor children alone to chase more fame, lie, lie, lie, say stupid crap, and make a fool of your family … And then maybe you can win a senate seat,” the younger Walker said, adding in a separate tweet that “a boring old Republican could have won.”
Even Georgia’s Republican lieutenant governor said last week that he could not vote for the scandal-ridden Republican. Lieutenant governor Geoff Duncan said he could not vote for Walker or Warnock, calling it “the most disappointing ballot” he’s seen in his time as a voter.
Warnock’s campaign manager, Rachel Petri, told NBC News a key part of the Democrat’s campaign strategy was “creating a permission structure for soft Republicans, swing voters and independents to support Reverend Warnock,” explaining the campaign highlighted things like working with Senator Ted Cruz (R., Texas) and standing up for peanut farmers.
Erickson said Warnock ran “some of the best political ads ever run.”
Nonetheless, NRSC chairman Rick Scott confusingly suggested that Walker, a political newcomer, “will continue to be a leader in our party for years to come” in a statement after the Georgia Republican’s loss.
The latest loss leaves many Republicans doubting not only Trump’s leadership, but also the abilities of three-time RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel.
Representative Lee Zeldin (R., N.Y.) said Wednesday that he will not pursue the RNC’s top spot, but called on McDaniel to step down, saying “change is desperately needed” after the party’s disappointing midterm outing.
Erickson, meanwhile, tweeted: “When @GOPChairwoman claims only the RNC worked in Georgia remember @BrianKempGA kept his ground operation going. @LeaderMcConnell poured $11 million into the state. The RNC didn’t do as much, but McDaniel will want credit to save her job. It’d have been a blowout but for Kemp.”
Erickson also noted that the GOP has suffered disappointing losses every election cycle since McDaniel took control of the RNC in 2017.
While Walker seemed to have been boosted on Election Day by voter concern over which party would take control of the Senate, his candidacy seemed to deflate in the runoff after it became clear that the contest wouldn’t determine control of the Senate but would instead decide whether Democrats would claim a true majority in the upper chamber or continue to rely on Vice President Kamala Harris as a tie-breaker.
Ryan Mills explained what the win means for Democrats:
With Warnock’s victory, Democrats will have 51 Senate seats. That will provide a little more cushion for dissent within the Democratic ranks, and will somewhat dilute the influence of more moderate senators Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D., Ariz.) who caused their party frequent headaches over the last two years. His win also gives Democrats more control over Senate committees, and further burnishes Georgia’s growing reputation as a purple state.
Around NR
• The Editors pinned the blame for Walker’s loss squarely on the former president:
Herschel Walker’s defeat in Tuesday’s Senate runoff in Georgia was as predictable as it was avoidable. Even before the 2022 election cycle got under way, smart observers of Georgia politics predicted the following: If the former Georgia football star ran for Senate, he would be unbeatable in the Republican primary, but would have a tough time in the general election given his enormous personal baggage and thin grasp of politics and policy. Nonetheless, Donald Trump recruited Walker into the race because he was a celebrity who was loyal to him.
• “Well, That Was Stupid,” Charles Cooke writes of the Georgia runoff.
One can only assume that, at some point, Republican primary voters will shed their muscular urge to lose every winnable election for which they enter a candidate. Whether they will do so in time to improve their position in Washington in 2024, however, remains an open question.
• Trump’s former national-security adviser, John Bolton, teased a potential 2024 run, saying he’d run to stop his former boss, if needed, after Trump said the American Constitution should be terminated. Ari Blaff reports:
The statements have drawn few condemnations from Republican politicians and prompted Bolton to tell Meet the Press Now: “I’d like to see Shermanesque statements from all the potential candidates. . . . If I don’t see that, I’m going to seriously consider getting in.”
• Rich Lowry argues that the press’s adversarial treatment of Florida governor Ron DeSantis bodes well for his 2024 chances:
Ron DeSantis is gaining ground, not just in the polls and among Republican donors, but by another key measure — the derangement primary.
An important and unmistakable sign of the potency of a Republican presidential candidate is the kind of treatment that he or she gets in the press and among antagonistic commentators.
• John McCormack offers two observations about Democrats’ decision to ditch Iowa for South Carolina as the first state to host the 2024 presidential primary:
First, the new calendar will make the already difficult task of defeating Joe Biden in a Democratic primary even tougher in 2024. Three of the four dates on the February 2024 calendar are reserved for states Biden won easily in 2020. Second, the new calendar could be a long-term blow to the Bernie Sanders wing of the party.