“GOP Feud,” “Trump’s Announcement,” & “Deceptive Fundraising” Drag Down Herschel Walker

The New York Times: “Much of the energy they could put toward supporting Mr. Walker in his runoff against Senator Raphael Warnock has gone instead toward an internal fight among Senate Republicans in Washington.”

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “Trump’s 2024 run could complicate Walker’s Senate runoff bid.”

A wave of news coverage is highlighting how Herschel Walker’s runoff campaign is engulfed in chaos due to “infighting between GOP leaders,” “deceptive fundraising” tactics that are causing a “headache” for the campaign, and Trump’s 2024 announcement that will “further complicate an already difficult Senate campaign season for the party” and “alienate swing voters and moderates.”

See the coverage for yourself:

NBC News: In GOP feud, Sen. Rick Scott adviser calls out McConnell team over Georgia runoff help

Infighting between GOP leaders Mitch McConnell and Rick Scott intensifies as Democrats kept Senate control and moved to outspend Republicans in the Georgia runoff.

• A top adviser to Scott is questioning McConnell’s commitment to winning Georgia’s Dec. 6 runoff election… citing a lack of spending so far by the GOP leader’s aligned super PAC.

• On Tuesday, the sniping intensified when the CEO of McConnell’s committee, Steven Law, highlighted a tweet that suggested the NRSC was scamming donors by soliciting email contributions on Walker’s behalf but steering only 10% of the proceeds to the candidate, which his campaign has asked other Republicans to refrain from doing.

• The squabbling comes as some Republicans are already worried about a repeat of the 2020 election, when party divisions contributed to the defeat of two GOP incumbents in a runoff in Georgia and delivered Senate control to Democrats.

Axios: Donors, campaigns steel themselves for another Georgia runoff

• “Walker and National Republican Senatorial Committee chair Rick Scott are…asking donors to contribute directly to an NRSC/Walker joint fundraising account, rather than supporting independent political spenders such as Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell’s Senate Leadership Fund.”

NBC News: Walker’s campaign tells Republicans to stop ‘deceptive fundraising’ in Georgia runoff

At least four committees, one of them associated with former President Donald Trump, have kept 90% of contributions solicited for Senate GOP candidate Herschel Walker.

• Republican politicians and associated committees are sending out desperate fundraising emails… But what’s not immediately clear to recipients is how little of that money is going to Walker’s campaign: just a dime for every dollar given by small donors.

• Former President Donald Trump’s Save America sent out an email that asked prospective donors to “contribute ANY AMOUNT IMMEDIATELY to the Official Georgia Runoff Fundraising Goal and increase your impact by 1200%”

• But if donors didn’t see a link that said “click here for details or to edit allocation,” they wouldn’t have noticed that 90% of their contributions automatically went to Trump, with the remaining 10% going to Walker.

Shane Goldmacher, The New York Times (@ShaneGoldmacher):

• NEW: The NRSC sent a fundraising email today signed by Herschel Walker in which it is actually keeping 99% of what’s raised, per fine print. Walker gets a dime for every ten dollar donation.

The New York Times: Should Trump Help Herschel Walker? Georgia Republicans Are Leery.

Republicans worry the former president’s rhetoric could hurt their prospects of flipping a U.S. Senate seat.

• [Trump’s] presidential announcement on Tuesday has led some in the Georgia G.O.P. to speculate, with much anxiety, on whether he would hit the campaign trail for Mr. Walker and, by extension, for himself.

• A Trump rally in Georgia could further complicate an already difficult Senate campaign season for the party.

• Republicans have lost control of the chamber and much of the energy they could put toward supporting Mr. Walker in his runoff against Senator Raphael Warnock has gone instead toward an internal fight among Senate Republicans in Washington — namely, between Senators Rick Scott and Mitch McConnell — over how this cycle was managed.

• The former president’s presence… could also alienate swing voters and moderates in Atlanta’s suburbs who were turned off by the candidate’s scant political experience and myriad personal scandals.

• For that reason, many Georgia Republicans have long tried to keep Mr. Trump at bay, lest his rhetoric hurt their prospects of recapturing a Senate seat.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Trump’s 2024 run could complicate Walker’s Senate runoff bid

• The former president’s decision to wage a comeback came despite appeals from Republicans in Georgia and beyond urging him to wait until after the Dec. 6 runoff against Sen. Raphael Warnock to avoid energizing Democrats who set turnout records in 2020 to oust Trump.

• And it sharpened an ongoing divide in Georgia that deepened after the former president tried – and failed – to defeat Gov. Brian Kemp, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, Attorney General Chris Carr and Insurance Commissioner John King.

• Nowhere was the GOP split more evident in Georgia than the eve of last week’s vote, when Kemp and Walker held separate, dueling events a short hop from each other with divergent messages. While Kemp focused on the economy, Walker leaned into culture wars issues.
  
  

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