ICYMI: Black, Saddler Continue Attacks on Walker for Dodging Debates, Hiding from Georgians As First Day of Qualifying Sparks New Round of GOP Infighting

Yesterday, in a preview of the infighting to come in the GOP Senate primary, Gary Black and Latham Saddler called out Herschel Walker for showing “cowardice,” “abandoning” Georgians, “falling apart” under simple questioning, and garnering “paper-thin” support across the state.

After “a string of gaffes, even with conservative interviewers,” as the Atlanta Journal-Constitution notes, “Walker’s campaign wants to shelter him” while the candidate himself “indicated he won’t debate his GOP rivals” — which “brought howls” from worried Walker supporters.

Here’s what to know about the ongoing GOP campaigns against Walker:

• Ahead of an April 9th GOP Senate debate, Republican rivals are lashing out at Walker for dodging Georgia voters and warning that Walker can’t handle a general election if he “can’t even debate Republicans”:

• Gary Black slammed Walker over his failure to answer simple questions on the campaign trail, calling Walker a “wind-up toy” with no direction as a candidate. Black has continued “slam[ming] [Walker] for months with accusations that he’s trying to avoid hard questions,” going after the Trump-tapped candidate for dodging his “in-person job interview” with voters and noting that Georgians “need a senator who puts a team together — not a staff who puts a senator together.”

• Kelvin King said it was a “travesty” that Walker would not debate fellow Republicans, warned that Walker will be “demolished” and “embarrassed” for his lack of policy and presence in Georgia. “It’s remarkable to think that someone could ask for the vote and the confidence of the people of Georgia, but doesn’t show or prove to them, to the people of Georgia that they’re willing to work hard.”

• Latham Saddler called Walker’s “no-show” Senate campaign an “unmitigated disaster” for Republicans. Latham Saddler went after Walker’s record of no-showing debates and local GOP events, accusing Walker of “falling apart” under simple questioning and asking how he could hold his own in a general election when he “can’t even debate Republicans.”
  
• Gary Black “isn’t going out without a fight,” tells Walker to “Man up.” The three-term Agriculture Commissioner continues to ratchet up the fighting language toward Walker. “Man up, get behind a microphone, quit talking through spokespeople, and come join the United States Senate race and be accountable to the voters,” Black told conservative radio host John Fredericks, reassuring Georgians that he “isn’t going out without a fight” while claiming that the Trump-tapped candidate’s problematic past and his litany of controversies “should disqualify him from seeking office.”

• Republicans are ready to continue “all-out attacks” on Walker. In the fall, Black went “scorched earth,” calling Walker’s history “disqualifying” and dismissing the decision by McConnell and other Republican U.S. senators to endorse Walker as a “tremendous miscalculation” — bringing up concerns that Republicans in Washington and across Georgia have raised over Walker’s checkered past for months.

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