Herschel Walker has been coming under fire from all sides the past week as Republicans sound off on the Trump-tapped candidate’s lackluster campaign, “questions about [his] background are piling up,” new reports emerge across the state about his shady business practices, and Walker takes heat for dodging press, GOP rivals, and Georgians alike — instead “only participa[ting] in closely controlled campaign events, including some that require tickets, forbid video recording and restrict media access.” 

Read up on the latest headaches around Walker’s campaign:

• “Hit after hit”: New stories piling up about Walker’s shady business record and questionable past:
  
  • Last week, WSAV in Savannah reported de that local leaders and business owners were calling out Walker over “new reports that revealed the Trump tapped candidate has failed to repay $625,000 in loans.” 

• WSAV also noted that “Walker was critical of the PPP loan program, but his own business received $10 million in that effort. [Democrats] say that Walker thinks he is above personal responsibility and financial accountability.” 

• This comes on the heels of reports that Walker mocked the Paycheck Protection Program while sitting on the board of a company that took millions in PPP, then laid off 90% of its workers the next day.

• Walker continues causing “anxiety among rank-and-file Republicans” as GOP faithful across the state are rip into Walker’s closed-door, “very limited, carefully curated” campaign: 

• As Walker continues his closed-door campaign, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Patricia Murphy notes that she is hearing “anxiety among rank-and-file Republicans” that they “do not know what they’re getting with Herschel Walker” and that “none of those questions have really been answered.”

• Conservative commentator Martha Zoller notes that “the more [Walker] talks, the more his numbers go down.” Zoller went on to advise Walker to do “as little as possible” when it comes to speaking with Georgians.

• Conservative radio host John Fredricks hit Walker for his refusal to answer questions or debate his opponents, saying he doesn’t “think [Walker] will be ready for primetime” and that Walker is “setting himself up” for “monumental disaster in the fall.”

• 2020 Senate candidate and former Rep. Doug Collins questioned Walker’s campaign’s strategy of “keeping him limited” and doubts Walker is “ready” to “handle the press.” 

• Conservative radio host Erick Erickson noted “Herschel Walker has a lot of baggage that’s starting to come out” that could “alienate independent voters.”

• Conservative radio host Beth Beskin challenged Walker to “come out of his hidey hole” and start answering for comments that have “raised a lot of Republican eyebrows.” Beskin went on to rip Walker’s substanceless campaign, lamenting that she has “not heard him say anything substantive anywhere” or take “actual questions that were not pre-vetted” — calling his campaign strategy a “disservice to Republican voters.”

• GOP rivals lash out at Walker for dodging debates and Georgia voters, warning Walker can’t handle a general election if he “can’t even debate Republicans”:

• Gary Black continues “slam[ming] [Walker] for months with accusations that he’s trying to avoid hard questions”, going after the Trump-tapped candidate on Monday 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 on issues affecting Georgians. “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 went after Walker’s record of no-showing debates and local GOP events, questioning how Walker could hold his own in a general election when he “can’t even debate Republicans.”
  
• Meanwhile…Walker’s rivals are telling reporters and voters alike that Republicans are about to “forfeit control of the United States Senate” if he is the GOP nominee.

• GOP Senate candidate Herschel Walker canceled a rare meet and greet with Georgians set for yesterday after Donald Trump invited him to a closed-press, high-dollar fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago. It’s the latest in a troublesome pattern for the Trump-tapped candidate, who has made a habit of avoiding Georgians and dodging questions.

• Meanwhile…Walker: “I don’t support either” Kemp or Perdue and “I’m mad at both of them.” The Trump-tapped gaffe machine was caught on tape throwing both GOP gubernatorial candidates under the bus. As the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports, an audio recording emerged of Walker telling a North Georgia audience that he’ll be supporting neither GOP candidate for governor — noting that he’s “mad at both of them” for putting Walker in this position in the first place. 

###