What They’re Saying: Walker Takes A “Less Visible Approach” As Republicans Say “I Cannot Vote” For Him

The Washington Post: “I thought, I’m a Georgia fan. How bad can he be? […] But he’s pretty bad.”

The New York Times: “Mr. Walker’s troubled candidacy has clouded their pride with suspicions, dismay, offense and even embarrassment.”

With less than 24 hours until Election Day new reports detail Herschel Walker’s lack of character and competence, as the Republican hides from voters on the campaign trail. 

Walker has taken “a less visible approach,” holding rallies where the only attendees are “staffers and others associated with his campaign.” Meanwhile, Republicans are saying “I cannot vote for Herschel Walker,” as Georgians view his “troubled candidacy” with “suspicions, dismay, offense, and even embarrassment.”

Here is what Georgians are reading with only two days until polls close:

The Washington Post : Senate campaign hits fever pitch in final days of Georgia runoff

• “In ads broadcast to millions of people watching the game […] Democrats showed footage of voters reacting with disbelief to Walker’s musings on the campaign trail, including a comparison of vampires and werewolves.”

• Those viral comments were a tipping point for Scott Hay, 55, who said he cast his ballot for Walker in November but has come to regret it, after learning more about the GOP candidate, including allegations from his past. He’ll vote for Warnock on Tuesday.”

• “I’m a Republican and I’ve never voted for anything but Republicans, and I cannot vote for Herschel Walker,” Hay said as he waited outside Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Backing Walker earlier this fall, Hay said, “I thought … I’m a Georgia fan. How bad can he be? Because I don’t like Warnock at all. But he’s pretty bad.”

• Democrats have attacked Walker, a first-time candidate, as unfit to serve in the Senate, amplifying gaffes from the campaign trail and highlighting incidents from his past. Multiple women have accused Walker of domestic violence Two ex-girlfriends have alleged that Walker paid for their abortions, though the candidate has advocated expansive bans on the procedure. Walker denies their claims. The candidate has spoken about his mental health struggles and calls himself a changed man.

The New York Times: Georgia Senate Runoff: Warnock and Walker Make Closing Pitch to Voters

• While Mr. Warnock has kept a packed schedule of public events and press interviews this weekend, Mr. Walker has preferred a less visible approach.

• Later that morning, Mr. Walker was inside his tour bus at an empty tailgate party outside the SEC championship game, waiting for the rain to stop. He eventually decamped to shake hands and take selfies with football fans decked out in the University of Georgia’s red and black.

• Mr. Walker delivered no remarks and declined to answer questions from a small huddle of reporters, as his staffers waved cameras back.

• “I’ve never been hiding,” he said later in a short interview with Politico, rejecting accusations that his campaign team was keeping him away from voters and the press.

• If there was one spot in metro Atlanta where Mr. Walker could be expected to find fans, it was the football stadium where the University of Georgia was taking on its conference rival, Louisiana State University. 

• But on Saturday, as it continued to drizzle, the few people present at Mr. Walker’s tailgate in a prime spot outside the stadium appeared to be staffers and others associated with the campaign.

The New York Times: In Georgia, a Heated Senate Race Stirs Mixed Emotions in Black Voters

• Two African American men — Herschel Walker, a Republican, and Raphael Warnock, the Democratic incumbent — are vying for a Senate seat in the Deep South, in a runoff contest, a process designed decades ago to thwart Black candidates. 

• But a race that may seem like a triumph for Black political power has stirred a complicated mix of emotions for Ms. Davis and many other Black Georgians. Mr. Walker’s troubled candidacy has clouded their pride with suspicions, dismay, offense and even embarrassment.

• In conversations with more than two dozen Black voters across Georgia, many said they did not see Mr. Walker, who has taken a conciliatory approach to matters of race, as representing the interests of Black people. 

• But skepticism of Mr. Walker — and the motives of those, including Mr. Trump, who backed his bid — seemed to override the power of football fandom, even in Georgia.

• “I saw through all the politics,” he said. “I know why Herschel was picked. And I know who picked him, and I’m not with that.”

• “Insulting” was the word Deron Simmons, a 44-year-old social worker, used as he left a polling center in College Park, a suburb just outside Atlanta.

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