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ATLANTA — In his marketing campaign for the Senate, Herschel Walker has not hidden his previous struggles with psychological sickness and violence in previous relationships, points of his background that he outlined in a 2009 memoir and that his marketing campaign sought to deal with in its earliest days.
Now, a bunch of anti-Trump Republicans is hammering him over a type of episodes.
In a brand new commercial operating on main networks within the Atlanta media market, footage of Mr. Walker scoring a landing for the College of Georgia is juxtaposed with close-up video of his ex-wife, Cindy Grossman, describing how he as soon as held a gun to her temple and threatened to drag the set off.
“Do you suppose you recognize Herschel Walker?” a narrator asks. “Nicely, suppose once more.”
Mr. Walker has not denied Ms. Grossman’s accusations, saying his violence towards her was a consequence of his struggles with psychological well being. His marketing campaign didn’t reply to a request for remark.
The adverts have been bought by a subsidiary of the Republican Accountability PAC, a bunch that grew out of Republican Voters In opposition to Trump, which was established in 2020 by “never-Trump” Republicans together with the strategist Sarah Longwell and the author William Kristol. It says it has allotted $10 million in detrimental promoting and voter mobilization efforts over the following three months to cease Mr. Walker and different candidates it views as unfit for workplace or a hazard to democracy. They embrace two candidates for governor, Doug Mastriano in Pennsylvania and Kari Lake in Nevada.
The preliminary advert purchase towards Mr. Walker within the Atlanta media market is simply $100,000. It could take way more to make severe inroads with Georgia’s huge Republican base, for whom Mr. Walker nonetheless retains near-godlike standing from his profession as a school operating again. However the anti-Trump group is hoping at the very least to show the heads of some swing voters.
Particularly, Ms. Longwell, the group’s government director, stated it hoped to use what she referred to as an rising hole in assist for candidates atop Georgia’s Republican ticket. Whereas Mr. Walker was operating roughly even within the polls with Senator Raphael Warnock, the incumbent Democrat, she stated, Gov. Brian Kemp was outpacing his Democratic opponent, Stacey Abrams, by a barely bigger margin.
“We predict that there’s plenty of these voters in Georgia who will cut up their ticket, and who will vote for Kemp, who will vote for Brad Raffensperger, however can not vote for Herschel Walker,” she stated, additionally naming the Georgia secretary of state. “For lots of those voters, it’s about understanding the distinction between the soccer participant and the particular person operating for Senate.”
One such voter she pointed to was Brenda James, a Republican from Columbus, Ga., who in an interview stated she voted for Mr. Trump in 2016 however President Biden in 2020, based on the Republican Accountability PAC. She condemned Republicans for “trying to govern and use” Mr. Walker.
“Bless poor Herschel’s coronary heart,” Ms. James stated. “The person wants assist. He doesn’t should be thrust into political limelight in the best way that they’re doing. Frankly, I believe it’s disgusting and despicable.”
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