Is this the Herschel Walker campaign reset?
Is this the Herschel Walker campaign reset?
July 20, 2022
Inside today’s edition of Swing State Georgia:
Fake GOP electors targeted in Georgia Trump probe.
Jimmy wants reform of the Electoral Count Act of 1887.
There’s still GOP holdouts on Trump’s election charges.
Are we witnessing the beginning of a new Herschel Walker strategy?
After weeks of private gatherings, closed-press events, and bad headlines, the Georgia Republican Senate nominee has reshuffled his calendar with several public appearances.
On Tuesday he trekked to Ocilla, where our AJC colleague Shannon McCaffrey reported that Walker had a tighter - and sharper - campaign message.
Walker is scheduled to speak at a livestock barn in Athens later today and swing by Gainesville for an event on Thursday.
It’s the first in what his aides say will be a series of events highlighting key themes, starting with agriculture issues. Next up are rallies that will focus on veterans and law enforcement, his spokeswoman Mallory Blount said.
Normally, this kind of stepped-up schedule from a candidate for U.S. Senate wouldn’t invite much attention. Walker’s opponent, U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, has kept a packed campaign schedule for months.
But Walker has been anything but a typical candidate.
His campaign has been rocked by damaging news since before he entered the race last summer. And the last few weeks have brought even more chaos than usual with revelations about unacknowledged children, internal campaign turmoil and campaign gaffes.
But it’s more than just scheduling that’s changing. The Walker campaign recently announced a string of new hires with deep experience in nationally watched contests, including a former Mitt Romney aide.
And top staffers with the National Republican Senatorial Committee traveled to Georgia last week for face-to-face meetings with Walker’s deputies to chart out a final-stretch strategy.
Tuesday’s event might be the first sign the overhaul is working – or it might be a momentary experiment to see what works-- and what doesn’t.
If you buy a few newspapers from around the country today, you might notice something - the special grand jury in Georgia investigating Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election has become big national news.
The latest court filings indicate all 16 phony Georgia Republican electors in 2020 have been informed they could face criminal charges. That includes Georgia GOP chair David Shafer and state Sen. Burt Jones, the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor.
It was just the latest signal that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ criminal investigation is expanding beyond Donald Trump to local Republican officials, focused on those who tried to help reverse his 2020 loss in Georgia.
While 11 of the fake electors are pushing to quash their subpoenas after they received the so-called “target” letters, Jones is taking a different tack: He’s said he’s ready to testify, but wants Willis disqualified from the case because she recently hosted a fundraiser for his Democratic rival, Charlie Bailey.
We’re told Jones spoke at a crowded fundraiser last night for state Sen. Brandon Beach, who also received a target letter for apparently helping to orchestrate the fake elector scheme.
LISTEN UP. We’ve got Herschel Walker’s reset, David Perdue’s first post-primary interview, the latest from the Fulton County grand jury, and much more in our midweek edition of the Politically Georgia podcast.
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Swing State's paid subscribers receive text alerts from our reporting team. See below for how to sign up.GRAHAM CRACKS. U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis reached an agreement that would pave the way for the South Carolina Republican to challenge his subpoena in an Atlanta-based court.
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