When it comes to flipping the Senate in next year’s midterm elections, Herschel Walker’s off to a running start.
The former NFL star, who first made his name as a running back for the University of Georgia Bulldogs during the first Reagan administration, is running for the Republican nomination to represent the Peach State in the Senate.
And if money is any guide so far, Walker’s got plenty of support.
Since announcing his candidacy in late August, backed by the powerful endorsement of former President Donald Trump, Walker has raised $3.7 million in campaign funds, according to Fox News.
That works out to about $100,000 a day – the kind of money likely to be needed in a hotly contested midterm year when control of both the House and the Senate are at stake and the future of President Joe Biden’s time in office is on the line.
Combined Democratic control over the presidency and both houses of Congress is producing the kind of legislative lunacy Americans should expect from a party that’s nominally led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer but is really being powered to the far left of the American political spectrum by the likes of Bernie Sanders in the Senate and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her “squad” sisters in the House.
As much as Biden and his party pretend otherwise, their hold on power is paper-thin, particularly in the Senate, where the 50-50 body is led by Democrats only because the vice president holds a tie-breaking vote.
That means a net change of only a single Senate seat to a Republican in 2022 could basically end the progressive left’s dreams of reshaping this country for the remainder of Biden’s term. And that means Herschel Walker could be the man to do it.
It’s early yet, and the three other Republicans running in the primary haven’t reported their third-quarter fundraising yet, according to Fox.
However, according to National Review, their numbers in earlier reporting weren’t anywhere near Walker’s.
Latham Saddler, a former Navy SEAL who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, reported having raised about $1.4 million in July, according to National Review. Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black reported about $700,000, while businessman and Air Force veteran Kelvin King reported raising about $370,000.
That, plus an early September poll that showed Walker dominating the field, puts the former athlete firmly in front judging by the numbers so far. But it’s safe to say that any one of these three would be an improvement over Senate Democrat Raphael Warnock, who won one of the two Georgia Senate seats that were on the ballot in crucial runoff elections Democrats swept in January.
Had either Republican incumbent – then-Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue – held onto a Georgia seat, the situation in Washington would be very different today.
As it is, Warnock defeated Loeffler in a special election for a seat that comes up for a regular vote next year. That makes him the first Georgia Democratic senator to face voters since the true ugliness of the Biden administration and a Democratic Congress has been apparent.
Not only has Warnock demonstrated himself to be a race-baiting progressive with scant respect for the truth, but he’s also part of a majority dedicated to legislation that will tear the country down even further than the Biden administration has so far, with its humiliation in Afghanistan, disaster and dishonesty on the southern border and a struggling economy when Trump’s recovery was at hand.
If it were up to Democrats like Warnock, the party’s obscene spending plans would have already passed. Only two moderate Democratic senators — West Virginia’s Joe Manchin and Arizona’s Krysten Sinema — have kept that from happening.
Simply put: A Warnock defeat would shatter the Democrat agenda.
In a Fox News interview on Monday, Walker said he was confident that he was the man to defeat Warnock and Trump’s backing in the race will be key.
“It’s very important to have the endorsement of President Trump, because I think President Trump knows that I can get the job done here in Georgia,” Walker said.
“He’s known me since the early ’80s, that I’m going to get into Washington and do what’s right.”
In the interview, Walker declined to second a Trump accusation that the Democrat Warnock is a “Marxist” but made it clear he wants Warnock out – and for good reason.
“I do know that I’m a better man for the job,” he said. “I think he’s had the position for a little bit, and now it’s time for someone to take over that cares about America.
“That’s one of the basic things. I think we need to put people in office that do. They’ve got to care about America first. They’ve got to care about the Constitution. They’ve got to care about our basic rights.”
Walker’s not without weaknesses opponents can try to exploit, of course. He’s been open about mental health struggles. The Associated Press already has been exploring allegations of domestic violence from Walker’s 2005 divorce. Politics, as the saying goes, ain’t beanbag. And no financial lead in October 2021 will mean a nomination or electoral success in November 2022.
But as political platforms go, “they’ve got to care about our basic rights” isn’t bad at all.
No honest observer of American politics since January (and long before) will ever accuse Democrats of caring about “America first.” Or about the Constitution. Or about American basic rights.
To the modern Democratic Party, “America” is just one more country on the globe, and one burdened with the guilt of its wealth to boot. To the modern Democrats, the Constitution means whatever it can be twisted to mean – from inventing an illusory right to abortion to trying to stamp out specifically enumerated rights, such as freedom of speech and religion and the right to bear arms.
That’s what the Trump candidacy and presidency meant to Trump’s supporters, and it’s what it will mean to Republicans in 2022 and 2024.
Walker’s already off to a running start – and it’s not just about the money.