Herschel Walker's Skeletons in Closet Come Back to Haunt Him

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Herschel Walker is facing a potentially tough week as campaigning for midterms enters the home stretch in his close race with Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock in Georgia.

Walker, a critic of abortion, has strongly denied a report from The Daily Beast that said he had paid for a former girlfriend's abortion in 2009. He said he would sue the publication.

Prominent Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, have defended Walker but his son, Christian Walker, has offered harsh criticism of his father following The Daily Beast's report.

The Walker campaign has been dogged by difficulties in a race that may determine which party controls the Senate. Walker was found to have made several false statements about himself, including that he had been in the FBI. He also admitted to having three children other than Christian—a fact that had not been previously known to the public until reports by The Daily Beast.

Political experts who spoke to Newsweek questioned whether revelations about Walker and accusations levied against him would have a major impact on a tight race in a traditionally red state.

Partisan Voters

Allegations that Walker paid for an abortion more than 10 years ago may not move committed GOP voters in Georgia as prominent Republicans, including Trump, Florida Senator Rick Scott, chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), and Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, have defended Walker following The Daily Beast's report.

"Walker's campaign seems designed to test a version of the old paradox about an irresistible force and an immovable object: what happens when an absolutely unsatisfactory candidate meets a completely committed partisan voter," Paul Quirk, a political scientist at the University of British Columbia in Canada, told Newsweek.

"Walker has been a disaster and an embarrassment for the Republicans since the beginning of his campaign," Quirk said, citing the Republican's "extraordinarily uninformed" remarks and revelations about his children.

"The new revelation about his paying for a girlfriend's abortion and the severe criticism from his adult son do not add much to his defects as a candidate," he said.

Quirk said that, despite his problems, "Walker has been running a close second to Warnock in the polls."

"The explanation is that Georgia is not only closely divided between the parties; it is very partisan, with very few independent or swing voters," Quirk said. "Only about 20 percent of voters who intend to vote for Walker say they have a favorable view of the candidate. Rather, they just want to send a Republican to Washington to fight the Democrats."

"So the new revelations probably will not reduce Walker's support by more than a point or two, if even that much. They may, however, reduce Republican turnout, and they will make it all but impossible for him to increase his support," he added.

The Shield of Celebrity

Walker is a former football star and Heisman Trophy winner. His past fame has led to comparisons with former President Trump, who had been previously best known as a New York property developer and as host of The Apprentice.

Robert Singh, a professor at the Department of Politics at Birkbeck, University of London, told Newsweek that Walker's celebrity status could benefit him.

"As we saw with Trump in 2016, celebrity [status] can provide some kind of protective shield," Singh said. "Some voters simply have the notion that celebrities misbehave as baked in and irrelevant."

"For others, policy issues matter more than personal indiscretions. Ultimately, this will probably cost Walker in a close race, if it turns out that way," he added.

Singh said that it is "very rare that a U.S. Senate race is contested by two African American candidates, and Georgia in 2022 should be safe Republican territory. But these allegations could well tip the balance against him."

'A Hail Mary Pass'

Thomas Gift, founding director of University College London's Centre on U.S. Politics, told Newsweek that the most recent reports about Walker could be beneficial to the Republican.

"As odd as it is to say it, Walker might ironically welcome a news cycle that distracts from the constant barrage of stories focusing on his purported incompetence as a candidate," Gift said.

"Bad press is still bad press, but for Walker, at least it gives the media something else to focus on than the incessant coverage highlighting the obvious: Walker seems out of his depth discussing basic public issues, ill-equipped in managing the media circus around him, and poorly prepared for the rigors of a high-level campaign," he said.

Gift said that in a best-case scenario, Walker could leverage the accusations to "rally his supporters by spinning the accusations as a partisan hit-job designed to take down his candidacy."

"It's a Hail Mary pass, but it may be all the former football great has left," Gift said.