Herschel in hiding? Walker's U.S. Senate campaign a disaster thus far, soon to worsen

This is a column by Opinion Editor Adam Van Brimmer.

Herschel Walker, the football icon, never shied away from foes eager to clobber him.

Just ask Bill Bates, the famed tough guy remembered as much for being run over by Walker in a college game as he is for his stellar NFL career with the Dallas Cowboys.

Herschel Walker, the wannabe U.S. senator, is avoiding contact - with opponents, with the media, with good sense - like the way Georgia Bulldog fans sidestep wedding invites that fall on a gameday.

Walker isn’t so much running for U.S. Senate as he is running from it. He won’t debate his Republican primary opponents. He won’t appear for events that aren’t in a tightly controlled environment. He won’t speak to groups other than those guaranteed to be friendly to him. He won’t sit for Q&As with anybody other than Fox News, Newsmax or other fringe media.

Given some of his comments that have been shared publicly, he might soon become even more reclusive.

Walker told a Rotary Club in Carrollton that NATO hasn’t been involved in supporting Ukraine or deterring Russia’s invasion, a false assertion showing ignorance of current events. More recently, Walker questioned the validity of evolution by saying that if man did indeed evolve from apes, then apes would no longer exist - as if evolution were a linear construct.

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Some want to give Walker a pass on these misstatements. He’s new to politics, after all, and he’s going to make gaffes on the campaign trail. But when the response to such blunders isn’t a sheepish grin and a clarification and is instead a wall of silence and fewer public appearances, you can start to draw conclusions about Walker’s fitness for office.

Wrote one of his GOP primary opponents, Kelvin King, “Herschel Walker talks about working hard and fighting for the interests of Georgians, yet he works behind the scenes to ensure a level of celebrity comfort and elusiveness, separating himself from the questions and engagement that Georgians demand. This is a campaign - not an autograph tour for those who can pay an access fee.”

Not practicing for Warnock?

For Walker, the campaign promises to be an adulation tour, and that should scare Georgia Republican voters.

He’s not debating King or the other GOP Senate candidates, Gary Black and Latham Saddler, because he doesn’t have to. His iconic brand is polling at 60% and higher with Republican voters, and disastrous showings in forums and town halls are the only defenders that can deny him the nomination end zone.

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As an elite athlete, though, Walker understands the value of practice. Unless he’s planning to pull a David Perdue and refuse to debate his general election opponent - which proved a losing strategy for Perdue - Walker not dueling with his GOP opponents means no scrimmages ahead of the big game that is an on-stage showdown with the quick-witted and eloquent incumbent, Sen. Raphael Warnock.

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In that circumstance, Warnock will be the GOAT steamrolling the star safety, played by Walker instead of Bates, on the touchdown run. Think back to Warnock’s 2020 debate against Kelly Loeffler, where she framed every answer with “Radical liberal Raphael Warnock” while he masterfully articulated his vision and policy positions.

Walker has yet to define his political stances. He’s been anointed by Donald Trump but is keeping the former president at stiff-arm’s length, affirming that he’s a Bulldog, not a lapdog. He’s voiced a desire for bipartisan cooperation but has shown little understanding of issues.

Georgians’ affinity for Walker is boundless, but you can love someone and not want them to represent you.

High stakes, poor candidate

Complicating the election decision for all Georgia voters are the stakes.

The Walker-Warnock outcome could again determine party control of the U.S. Senate. Warnock’s win in January 2021 gave the Democrats the majority for the first time since 2010, and seemingly every Georgian has an opinion on the consequences of that shift.

Electing Walker to gain that Senate swing vote will be enough for some fence-sitting conservatives and moderates. But as we saw in 2020 with Warnock’s victory, many others won’t vote for a shallow candidate just because he or she has an R next to his or her name. Meanwhile, base Democrats will turn out en masse to oppose anyone affiliated with Trump.

Walker is a star candidate for Senate, but he’s not campaigning like one. Georgians need to see if he can perform between the political lines like he once did on the football field.

Contact Van Brimmer at avanbrimmer@savannahnow.com and follow him on Twitter @SavannahOpinion.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Herschel Walker U.S. Senate campaign littered gaffes, few appearances