Why Walker Electred to the Senate, and How the GOP Can Lead to a Better Way Forward for America’s Conservative Party: Geoff Duncan, 12th Lieutenant Governor of Georgia
The shock of Herschel Walker being the Republican nominee for US Senate in Georgia has thrown one of the closest races in the elections into turmoil five weeks before Election Day, but it never had to be this way. The Republicans should not have had a chance of regaining the Senate majority because of a candidate who was unfamiliar with the state.
A planter was planted in front of a big house and near a Dairy Queen on a sidewalk. There are two people on a corner near the Johnson County Courthouse.
The support appeared randomly scattered. But people in Wrightsville saw a dot-to-dot drawing of a racial divide that has shaped Wrightsville for generations — and is now shaping a critical political race with national implications.
Walker ran a campaign whose toxic imprint wouldn’t fade away so easily and turned this contest into a race to the bottom. The misunderstanding and disrespect of the Black community by the GOP is one of the main reasons why Walker was supported by Trump and theMAGA movement.
Mr. Obama and Mr. Fisher didn’t pretend that racism had been expunged from American life. “Precisely because America is a racist society,” they wrote, “we cannot realistically expect white America to make special concessions towards blacks over the long haul.” It was bad politics to demand that white Americans look into four centuries of racial oppression. “Those blacks who most fervently insist on the pervasiveness of white racism have adopted a strategy that depends on white guilt for its effectiveness,” they wrote, ridiculing the idea that whites would “one day wake up, realize the error of their ways, and provide blacks with wholesale reparations in order to expiate white demons.”
The election plan designed to make Democrats the party of working people, a policy agenda geared towards comprehensive economic reform, and faith in American democracy fit together in Mr. Obama’s plan. Democrats could change politics by mixing political calculation with moral vision.
Editor’s Note: Geoff Duncan, a Republican, is the 12th Lieutenant Governor of Georgia. He is the author of “GOP 2.0: How the 2020 Election Can Lead to a Better Way Forward for America’s Conservative Party.” The views he expresses are his own. Read more opinion articles on CNN.
What has the Mueller told us about Scott Walker?’s latest enigmatic test of the GOP, with a resigned McConnell
Walker was a former athlete who was friendly with Trump but had no qualifications to be the Republican Party’s Senate nominee.
Unfortunately for McConnell and Senate Republicans, what’s played out of late was exactly what they were worried about all those months ago. CNN has not verified the allegation against Walker who has denied ever paying for an abortion.
The GOP infrastructure is nervous and they want Walker to weather the storm. To his political credit, Walker has faced other serious allegations, including domestic abuse, an exaggerated business career and an erratic personality. In the meantime, he has had a teflon quality of surviving scandals that have mostly been avoided by mortals. The October timing is what makes Walker’s latest test his most serious.
The Red Wave of Georgia: After the 2018 General Election, Governor Brian Kemp Re-opened the State of the Art and the Technological Capital of the East Coast
Before answering the question, let’s first set the current political scene in Georgia. In Georgia, a red wave broke out after the general election, despite the fact that Republicans stumbled and failed to take advantage of President Joe Biden’s low approval ratings and Americans believing the country is on the wrong path. The Grand Old Party, led by Gov.Brian Kemp, had a solid hold on the Georgia General Assembly. While Georgia may be a purple state in some respects, it continues to have a definite red glow under its state capitol gold dome.
Her stock has since taken a sharp fall. Abrams famously refused to concede her 2018 defeat. A federal judge recently tossed out a group’s lawsuit accusing the election of being rigged. She also faced an investigation by the State Ethics Commission about her fundraising practices in 2018, which was dismissed this past summer.
Kemp is breathing easier this year because of factors beyond the flaws ofAbrams. He has his own record to fall back on, and it is one of accomplishments and results. Georgia was once again named the best state for business by Area Development magazine. In a decision that has aged well over time, Kemp re-opened our state from the pandemic faster than many others, angering even then-President Trump. Georgia has taken significant steps toward becoming the technology capital of the East Coast as a result of people and businesses moving to our state.
Reply to Senator Warnock: ‘There is no room left for America’s next governor’s office, but there is room for serious reform’
Senator Raphael Warnock, the incumbent and a Democrat, excoriated his Republican opponent, Mr. Walker, who chose not to attend the debate, arguing that Mr. Walker’s history of domestic violence, lies about his past and refusal to participate in the forum made him unqualified for office.
The numbers do not lie. Our Senate race should be a referendum on Biden’s agenda. Every piece of flawed legislation passed along party line votes, including the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act and the $750billion Inflation Reduction Act, should have been stopped by an evenly divided upper chamber.
If we want the Americans to notice us and take us seriously, we need to begin by nominating candidates who are serious. That process goes beyond celebrity or fame. It requires leaders capable of winning elections by articulating a conservative vision for governing.
One of Mr. Walker’s biggest supporters, Reverend Jentezen Franklin, said he would vote for Mr. Walker because of his views on issues like abortion and crime.
“If you really bring it along racial lines, perhaps it is a group that was in the majority for so long trying to stay in that majority,” he said, “but on the flip side, you have to draw a line and say right is right, wrong is wrong.”
Herschel Walker, a Black Man, and the Resurrection of Georgia Senate Minority Elections: A Legacy of a Dark Past
Tony Perkins, president of the political action committee associated with the Family Research Council Action, endorsed Mr. Walker on Friday. He said Mr Walker’s story was about the power of grace, redemption and the opportunity that America still provides.
The last week has been an utter disaster for Herschel Walker’s Senate campaign, as a report indicates that he paid for a woman’s abortion more than a decade ago.
And it’s been made worse by the fact that smart Republican strategists have known for the better part of a year that Walker was a) deeply untested and b) deeply unpredictable as a candidate.
Josh Holmes, a long-time friend ofMitch McConnell, bluntly assessed the situation when the AP told him about Walker’s turbulent past.
And while McConnell stayed silent publicly, he was operating behind the scenes to try to maneuver Walker from his prime position in the Georgia Senate primary.
“McConnell has suggested to allies that former Georgia senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler should take another look at running again, according to three sources familiar with the matter, after their narrow losses in January flipped the Senate to Democratic control.”
But those initial doubts that led him – and one of his top political consiglieres – to be skeptical of Walker never went away. It was a classic case of, “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em,” in action.
The first Senate race in Georgia history to nominate two Black men has been mitigated by conflicting approaches to grappling with race. Walker and Warnock’s worldview began to diverge decades ago – as Walker shined on the field and Warnock rose to the pulpit.
Walker is the only form of racial progress White voters find acceptable, even though it was defeated in the polls the way the candidate was. For too many of these voters, only a Black man who knows his “place”— as a figurehead for a Republican Party openly pursuing a policy agenda of voter suppression, educational censorship and reproductive injustice — is worthy of the support of many parts of Georgia’s electorate, a mere two years after George Floyd’s murder sent the entire nation (and parts of the world) into a period of public rebellion and private introspection.
Walker stated at a recent rally outside Atlanta that “23andMe has screwed us all up.” Walker was referring to the brand of home genetic tests often used to determine a person’s country or region of origin. “It don’t matter about your color. A divided house cannot stand, so I want us to come together.
A Black Black Lives at a White House: A Conversation with Mark Rigueur, Mark Warnock and his Mentor, Lawrence Carter, in Killer Mike
“These are two of the most important institutions for questions of democracy and equality, and I think they’re both important,” said Rigueur.
The church is a source of help for many Black communities. It’s an organizing space. Certainly sports becomes a site of resistance, in terms of African Americans desegregating teams, African Americans using sports to grasp some measure of social mobility.”
In an interview with Killer Mike, he told him that he was just coming out to be a great athlete. “And I think my high school was probably 50-50 white-Black.”
In Walker’s memoir, he wrote about being overcome with fear of the Ku Klux Klan. He recalled their members stalking Black kids as they walked home from school, yanking them into the woods for mock lynchings.
“There is a broad misconception about what life is like in the 1980s in the South,” Riguer says. “There still remains a very segregated economically unequal society for African Americans.”
The public housing complex where he was raised was in Georgia, as well as the society that it was. As a teen, Warnock spent hours at a nearby library listening to archival recordings from the civil rights movement – especially speeches by King.
“There are men who preach in the pulpit every Sunday, and yet they don’t speak up against discrimination, even if they see it,” King said in his sermon, “A Knock at midnight.”
Morehouse College, where King attended in the 50’s, was selected by Warnock as a school he wanted to attend. Warnock signed up to serve as an assistant at the King Memorial Chapel on campus. The dean, Lawrence Carter, became Warnock’s mentor.
Carter remembered that “Supremely confident, mature beyond his years.” “He seemed to be in a zone all by himself. He would often come into the chapel library, where no one else was, and write.
“When our chapel is packed and our 6,000 pipe organ is sounding in their ears, surrounded by people doing bold things, that pours iron into your spine,” Carter says. “And when you see injustice, you want to do something about it.”
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1128694481/with-two-black-men-running-for-senate-in-georgia-race-takes-center-stage
With two blackmen running for senator in georgia race takes center-stage: Where are we? Where do we go? What did we learn? How a young black man would find out
Walker was at Johnson County High School when it won the 1980 state football championship. Walker accepted a full-ride to the University of Georgia and it was national news. Wrightsville once again attracted the country’s attention.
Protests against racial injustice had broken out, directed at the county’s white sheriff. They were met with violence when they came together. The Klan mobilized and the governor called in state troopers, while schools and factories closed. Local residents and out- of-town civil rights leaders begged the most famous resident to speak out.
“Walker had Black people calling him Uncle Tom and white people calling him the N word”, said Tom Jordan, Walker’s track coach and an early mentor. “And he was just searching for his spot.”
Track coach Tom Jordan was the one who called the meeting. “I said, ‘Look, guys, you can’t get in shape for a track meet marching. You have to run. Practice is at three and you know I don’t tolerate missing.”
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1128694481/with-two-black-men-running-for-senate-in-georgia-race-takes-center-stage
“The Loneliness of the Black Republican,” Walker, Killer Mike, and the “Greatest Country in the World”: An Address to the White House
If I went the other way, what would have happened? Walker told Killer Mike. Where would I be today? I can sit at the table now that I have an opportunity.
“His political viewpoints and rejection of race as a consideration does not represent African American audiences,” explained historian Leah Wright Rigeuer. It’s the perspective of most of the white voters in Georgia.
The Loneliness of the Black Republican, written by Rigueur, states that the views of these people are not an exception and Clarence Thomas is one of the most conservative members on the bench. These perspectives should not be seen as fringe, particularly when coming from people with immense influence to shape American life, says Rigueur.
“We should want to understand that because of what it tells us about the very nature of Black politics, but also questions of American democracy,” Rigueur says.
The two men are competing in an election that may determine which party controls the U.S. Senate with most polls showing a tossup.
Walker said at a recent rally that we are not a racist country. The United States is the best country in the world today and it’s time for new leaders to know that.
Chase Oliver and the Last Moments of Henry Burnham: An American Black G.I. After James Rushing Died on a Bus
The Senate race’s lesser-known contender, the Libertarian candidate Chase Oliver, did participate in the debate, bringing up policy points like supporting L.G.B.T.Q. rights and keeping the government out of health care and energy investments. He found a common ground with his opponent who was MIA in the debate.
Our federal constitution proclaims republican liberty at the same time as it enables the subjugation of entire people in the United States. The Constitution both inspired the democratic vistas of radical antislavery politicians and backstopped the antebellum dream of a transcontinental slave empire.
All of this took place while the United State was fighting a war for democracy in Europe. For most of America’s history, America’s democratic institutions and procedures and ideals existed alongside forms of exclusion, domination and authoritarianism. Although we’ve taken real strides toward making this a less hierarchical country, with a more representative government, there is no iron law of history that says that progress will continue unabated or that the authoritarian tradition in American politics won’t reassert itself.
Margaret A. Burnham is a former judge and a legal scholar. Jim Crow’s Legal Executioners,” rested on “the chronic, unpredictable violence that loomed over everyday Black life.” In one of many such episodes detailed in the book, Burnham recounts the last moments of Henry Williams, a Black G.I. killed in 1942 by an Alabama bus driver named Grover Chandler for what Chandler perceived as “impudence on the part of the young soldier.” Williams spilled his laundry on the ground after Rushing to get out of the bus. Williams was hit in the back of the head by a third shot when he turned to pick it up. He died on the bus.
The Peach State of 2020: Where Joe Biden is? Mike Pence at the Republican Party Debacle in Georgia, during the 2018 Midterm Election
For the second time in less than two years, the Peach State, which elected two Democratic senators in the last election cycle, is home to a contest that has gripped both national parties and potentially holds the key to the fate of President Joe Biden’s agenda.
While at a rally in Georgia on Tuesday for GOP Gov. Brian Kemp, former VP Mike Pence did not mention that he was supporting the entire Republican ticket.
He initially sought to steer clear of directly addressing the controversy. He started a television ad called Hypocrite last month.
Using his background as a pastor to appeal to swing voters, the man presented himself as a senator with the ability to cross party lines to get things done. He highlighted the differences between his work with senators as being different than himself, such as the likes of Republican Ted Cruz from Texas.
He says in an ad that he would work with anyone if it meant helping Georgia, which has been a recurring message in his debate with the Republican.
Similar to states such as Pennsylvania, Arizona and others where candidates in November failed to convince voters to support them despite their misgivings about Biden, Georgia voters simply could not back the former president’s pick for the Senate.
“There is very little evidence that he has taken any interest, bothered to learn anything about or displayed any kind of inclination towards public service or volunteer work or helping people in anyway,” Obama said of Walker at a rally for Warnock last week in College Park.
Walker has heavily used rhetoric of culture war and criticized inflation and crime rates under Biden, in a bid to establish himself as the true heir apparent to the throne.
Walker told the non-politician that they should think about the damage politicians have done to this country, in order to vote for him.
In the aftermath of the Republican Party’s disappointing midterm election results, many people have asked if I feel vindicated. Since the debacle of the 2020 election in my home state, Georgia, and subsequent Senate runoffs, I have been outspoken in my belief that the presence of President Donald Trump is a barrier to our party’s success.
I wrote a book about this outcome more than a year ago. I don’t take pleasure in being correct. I am a tried-and-true conservative. I believe that America is headed in the wrong direction, fueled by the hangover of the Trump years and the policies of President Joe Biden and his congressional enablers.
I am not the only one who is dissatisfied. According to CNN, more than 7 of 10 people said they were angry or dissatisfied with the direction of the country.
Control of the house of representatives is up in the air. A narrow GOP majority is not far off from the expected red wave. The Senate will remain in Democratic control after the losses in Nevada and Arizona.
A high-stakes December runoff election between incumbent Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker in Georgia still looms large. Along with mashed potatoes and stuffing, Georgians are going to be getting a lot of commercials on their Thanksgiving tables. Each party wants to win the race and preserve the Senate’s current make-up, but it will be a hard fought race.
Frustrated Republicans are Running the Thing: How Donald Perdues and Fredrick Hicks Served as Governors of the New Jersey Generals
Yes, they are longtime buddies dating back to the United States Football League (USFL). In fact, the now defunct league is where the two first met in the 1980s – Trump as the owner of the New Jersey Generals and Walker as the star running back. And, yes, Trump’s endorsement helped propel Walker to an overwhelming primary win.
Besides, as poor as Biden’s favorability numbers are in Georgia – 44% approve of his job performance while 53% disapprove, according to a recent Quinnipiac University survey – his predecessor’s standing is even worse. Only 40% approve of Trump.
Perdue agreed to run in the primary after being recruited by Trump to re-litigate his baseless conspiracy theories. Now the evidence is compelling.
The documented history and the allegations had an impact on voters who otherwise voted for the Republican candidates. For instance, in the strongly Republican exurban Cherokee County, Walker ran nearly 7 points behind Kemp in November. Similar drop offs in Republican support were found throughout the state.
Finally, as his team compiles their surrogate wish list, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis should be their first call. The town is talking about DeSantis right now, and for good reason. He won reelection with a larger margin than any other governor in the state. A victory of barely 30,000 votes in 2018 turned into a margin of more than 1.5 million four years later. He carried almost every demographic, including a 56-43 margin with Latino voters. And he achieved all this with a fiercely conservative record in a formerly battleground state.
There will be plenty of talk about DeSantis’ national ambitions, but for now it’s worth taking stock of his recent accomplishment. It proves that effective and decisive GOP leadership can yield significant electoral success.
I do not expect Walker to listen to me. After all, I have been the proverbial skunk at the garden party within Republican circles for speaking out against Trump. But if the GOP can’t best a Democratic Party led by a president with an approval rating in the low 40s, something must change because the status quo isn’t cutting it. Don’t take my word for it.
Fredrick Hicks is a political strategist. He served as a debate preparation partner for then-candidate Raphael Warnock in 2020. Hicks did not work for the campaign in 2022. He is the owner of a consulting firm. The views expressed here are his own. CNN has opinion on it.
It was on January 5, 2021, that the first black person elected to the US Senate from Georgia was elected. Alongside Jon Ossoff, who became the first Jewish senator ever elected from the state, these historic victories were overshadowed by the tragic circumstances that commenced the next day.
A new generation of Democrats, including the likes of Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, and Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, are now under the direction of the man they’re replacing: Warnock.
Context is everything, including in politics. Democrats performed better than expected. The red wave swept through the southeastern states, washing away many Democrats from Virginia to Florida.
The Warnock Campaign: Campaigning for the Right Votes in Southern New Jersey, and the Promise of a Great Future for the United States
Since becoming a candidate, he has raised more than $284 million and is expected to raise $300 million after the counting is finished. In a game of votes and money that is as much about success and viability as it is about ability, Neil Warnock has more of both than any other player.
This is a great opportunity to move the center-left agenda forward for the country. With large states like California, Illinois and New York safely in the Democratic ledger, if the nominee can compete and win in southern states, then it will be nearly impossible for any Republican to win the presidency for the foreseeable future.
Editor’s Note: Edward Lindsey is a former Republican member of the Georgia House of Representatives and its majority whip. He is a lawyer in Atlanta focusing on public policy and political law. The views in this commentary are of his own. CNN has opinions on it.
The Rejoinder of the Tea Party and the Democrat-President’s Pain for Early Voting: An Empirical Viewpoint
- For campaigns, runoff elections are more about getting people to vote than persuading them. Republicans seem to have been hampered in their efforts over the last two election cycles by Trump’s denigration of early in person voting and absentee mail in voting. Republican operatives and elected officials want their supporters to view each method as reliable, but there is still resistance to early voting from many voters in the GOP base.
The founding director of the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy at the University of Texas at Austin is Peniel Joseph, chair in ethics and political values and professor of history. He is the author of a book called The Third Reconstruction. His views are his own. CNN has more opinion on it.
It is understandable that pain from Walker’s candidacy is something that is still felt by the Democratic Party. It is a much-needed step toward realizing the dream of multiracial democracy.
In the almost two years since then, there’s a unique American symmetry. The GOP’s political imagination and policy vision has been blinkered by Trump’s election denialism. If there is a moral rejection of the kind of cynicism that results in candidates like Walker in the first place, then this hard-fought victory is it.