Walker was a candidate beyond all help. Will Georgia GOP voters heed another rebuke?

Herschel Walker recruited many influencers late in his U.S. Senate runoff bid.

A national champion swimmer. Georgia’s popular governor. The state’s most beloved football coach, may he rest in peace. A former president. To hear Walker tell it, he even recruited God Himself to the cause.

None of them could make one of the most toxic major political party candidates in recent memory electable, even in a state in which Walker is an icon.

Walker’s rhetoric was too disturbing, his credibility too flimsy, his competency too laughable. He wanted to be a werewolf and not a vampire, and his silver bullet turned out to be … himself.

Republican nominee for U.S Senate Herschel Walker speaks during a campaign rally Thursday, Nov. 10, 2022 in Canton, Ga.. Walker is in a runoff with incumbent Democrat Raphael Warnock. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

Who didn’t see this runoff ending coming?

Many expected this. His biggest GOP primary rival, Gary Black, predicted a Walker loss back in May, pointing toward Walker’s checkered personal history. Black’s forecast came well before the barrage of revelations, allegations and Twitter bombs from family members.

These weren’t glancing blows of the type that Walker routinely shook off on the football field. Each stung and forced him to alter direction, as evidenced by Walker’s increasingly tight embrace of vile rhetoric in an effort to drive far-right turnout. When one’s central campaign themes center on attacking LGBTQ people and those suffering from mental illness, you are pathetic.

His 11th hour champion, Gov. Brian Kemp, sensed Walker’s desperation. The governor supported Walker at the behest of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell but made only one campaign appearance with the candidate – and that was more than two weeks ago, the Saturday before Thanksgiving.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp campaigns alongside Senate candidate Herschel Walker on Saturday, Nov. 19, 2022 in Smyrna, Ga.

Walker had to enlist B listers, such as Sens. Lindsey Graham and Ted Cruz and Congressmen Buddy Carter and Rick Allen, to play Harry Dunne to Walker’s Lloyd Christmas on the campaign trail.

Here’s hoping that unlike “Dumb and Dumber,” there is no sequel involving Walker as a political hopeful.

Herschel Walker candidacy: He embodies every negative stereotype Black Americans have fought against for decades

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Will Georgia Republicans end their stubbornness?

Georgia Republicans seem intent on testing the definition of insanity by doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

Democrats have now won four consecutive statewide races for federal offices. Democrats have won three straight federal runoffs. Raphael Warnock has bested two GOP U.S. Senate opponents in two years.

All the losing GOP candidates had one thing in common: They embraced the politics of fear and loathing and the man who embodies those divisive concepts, former President Trump. David Perdue, Kelly Loeffler, Walker and Trump himself. All swept out of government.

Two years from now, another of those candidates will lose another election. The question is: Will it be in a primary or the general election?

Georgia Senate runoff recap: Warnock wins re-election in tight race against Walker

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Any other GOP candidate would have won

This Senate seat was the Republicans’ to lose. GOP candidates won every other statewide race on Nov. 8, after many of them defeated Trump-endorsed candidates in the primary. Walker was the one Republican who fell short, as many right-leaning voters split their tickets.

If Black, who served as Georgia’s longtime Agriculture commissioner or one of the two military veterans who ran against Walker in the May primary had won the nomination, the GOP would have avoided a runoff. With Black or Latham Saddler or Kelvin King as the candidate, the Republicans would have swept the general election.

Adam Van Brimmer is the Opinion Editor at the Savannah Morning News in Georgia.

Walker’s only chance in the runoff hinged on Democratic apathy. The GOP base turns out for runoffs regardless of the circumstances. With majority control of the Senate decided, would Warnock voters do likewise? Would the split-ticket voters?

They did, with runoff turnout within 15% of the general election numbers. Warnock stretched his advantage from 35,000 votes in November to 85,000 votes on Tuesday.

As Warnock put it in his victory speech, “the people have spoken.” The GOP better have listened this time.

Adam Van Brimmer is Opinion Editor at the Savanna (Georgia) Morning News. Contact him at avanbrimmer@savannahnow.com.

More from Adam Van Brimmer:

What if we told you Trump helps Warnock in Georgia, not Walker?

Stacey Abrams lost two elections, but her career isn’t over. It’s just not at the ballots.

Raphael Warnock needs to fire up Georgia voters for Senate runoff. Trump is the spark.

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This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Georgia US Senate runoff ends with predictable Herschel Walker loss