Yesterday the State of Georgia completed the run-off election for the final Senate seat. Incumbent Raphael Warnock squeezed out the win, giving Democrats a 51-seat majority in the Senate.
Sadly, Dr. Warnock was only able to beat the former Georgia football hero, Herschel Walker, by 95,454 votes, which comes to 2.8%, pretty close to the same margin as in the general election a month ago.
Essentially, the 2.1% that voted for the third-party candidate shifted to Warnock.
The Captain applauds the results, but wishes the voters of Georgia had come to their senses and made a definitive statement rejecting Trumpf and his GQP.
It was Trumpf who first called Walker – who lives in Texas, by the way – and encouraged him to run in the Georgia Senate race. As in other races he tried to orchestrate, Trumpf didn’t care about qualifications, intellect, or integrity. He wanted a popular figure he thought could win.
And one who would be loyal to him.
Captain’s Note: Trumpf knew Walker from USFL days when Walker played for the team Trumpf bought. Not only did Walker fail there, the Trumpf-owned team failed, as did the entire league. But Walker was willing to mouth the election lies Trumpf was pushing, so Trumpf declared him the candidate.
Walker’s campaign was a train-wreck. He was inarticulate (so much so that during the run-off campaign Senators Lindsay Graham and Rick Scott did most of the talking for him), he easily went off-script (what was that stuff about vampires and werewolves?), he lied profusely, and he had not just a closet-full but a whole warehouse full of skeletons and scandals from his past.
Here’s another reason Walker lost. Warnock was able to raise $175 million during the run-off campaign. Walker only raised $58 million.
But Walker’s own supposed allies were working against him. Newly-elected Representative Ryan Zinke (R-Montana) launched a fundraising campaign for Walker, stressing how important it was for Walker to win “in order to win the Senate”.
Captain’s Note: The Senate majority was already in the hands of Democrats by that time. Walker’s win would not have changed that.
But the fine print in Zinke’s money-beg revealed that only 50% of donations would go to the Walker campaign; Zinke would pocket the rest.
Zinke was not alone in this. Senators Lindsay Graham (R-SC), Rick Scott (R-FL), and Mike Lee (R-Utah) also launched 50/50 campaigns. So did Rep. Burgess Owens (R-Utah).
It gets worse. The National Republican Senatorial Committee, chaired by Senator Rick Scott, sent out a fundraising appeal in which Walker would only receive 1% of funds raised.
When confronted about this, Scott insisted that some NRSC money went to the Walker campaign, but come on…
And, to no one’s surprise, even Trumpf got in on this gravy train. He sent out an urgent appeal for Walker but kept 90% of the proceeds.
Senators-elect J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) and Ted Bud (R-NC) also kept 90% of the donations they raised for Walker.
And mates, that right there is today’s Republican Party!
Frankly, with that kind of support, it is amazing Walker came out as well as he did!
Close though this race was, it was a blow to Trumpf, adding to the number of his hand-selected candidates who lost races this Fall that the GOP should have easily won.
And with those recent election losses, it appears the GOP is finally waking up.
Becoming “woke”, if you will.
More and more people within the GOP camp are wondering if Trumpf should be their candidate for 2024. They are suddenly discovering that all those things we warned them about in 2016 were true.
Even Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is hedging his bet.
Congratulations, Senator Raphael Warnock! Make every vote count!
