In Georgia, Walker’s Pace in the Finish Worries Republican Allies

ATLANTA — Herschel Walker was being swamped by destructive tv advertisements. His Democratic opponents have been making ready to flood the polls for early voting as quickly as doorways opened. After being hit by recent allegations of carpetbagging, he was left with simply over every week to make his remaining appeals to voters in the runoff for Georgia’s Senate seat.

But for 5 days, Mr. Walker was off the marketing campaign path.

The resolution to skip campaigning over the essential Thanksgiving vacation weekend has Mr. Walker’s Republican allies airing frustrations and considerations about his marketing campaign technique in the remaining stretch of the time beyond regulation election in opposition to Senator Raphael Warnock.

Democrats, they level out, have gotten a head begin on Republicans in their early-voting push and are drowning out the G.O.P. on the airwaves — outspending them two-to-one. With lower than every week to go, time is operating out quick for Mr. Walker to make inroads with the average conservatives who didn’t assist him throughout the basic election.

“We almost need a little bit more time for Herschel’s campaign to get everything off the ground,” mentioned Jason Shepherd, the former chairman of the Cobb County Republican Party, pointing to the transition from a basic election marketing campaign to a runoff dash. Notably, the runoff marketing campaign was minimize from 9 weeks to 4 by a Republican-backed legislation handed final 12 months.

“I think we’re behind the eight ball on this one,” Mr. Shepherd added.

Mr. Shepherd mentioned Mr. Walker’s resolution to not marketing campaign throughout Thanksgiving was only one troubling selection. He additionally pointed to a collection of mailers despatched by the Georgia Republican Party encouraging voters to search out their polling locations that contained broken QR codes as examples of poor organizing. And he raised concern about the regular stream of commercials supporting Warnock, a first-term senator and pastor, on conservative discuss radio and modern Christian stations.

Both Democrats and Republicans observe that they’re removed from counting Mr. Walker out. The race stays inside the margin of error, according to recent polling. Democrats outspent Republicans in the basic election, too, pouring in greater than $100 million, in contrast with $76 million spent by Republicans.

Still, Mr. Walker, the former soccer star, received 1.9 million votes earlier this month — touchdown 37,000 votes wanting Mr. Warnock and roughly 60,000 votes shy of the 50 p.c threshold for successful the seat outright.

His marketing campaign has been one among the most turbulent in current reminiscence: Mr. Walker was discovered to have lied or exaggerated details about his education, his business, his charitable giving and his work in law enforcement. He acknowledged a historical past of violent and erratic conduct, tied to a psychological sickness, and didn’t dispute an ex-wife’s accusation of assault. Two women claimed that he had urged them to have abortions, though he ran as a staunchly anti-abortion candidate. He denied their accounts. He usually delivered rambling speeches, which Democrats extensively circulated with glee.

“I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that Herschel Walker might be the most flawed Republican nominee in the nation this year,” mentioned Rick Dent, a media advisor who has labored for candidates from each events and plans to vote for Mr. Warnock.

Still, regardless of all their spending in opposition to Mr. Walker, Mr. Dent mentioned, Democrats “have not been able to shake him yet.”

With the Democrats’ majority in the U.S. Senate already secured, each events have struggled to border the race in all-or-nothing phrases. Still, the runoff will decide whether or not Democrats win a 51st seat, maybe easing the path for some judicial appointments. It will even cement the Democrats’ standing as rivals in a onetime Republican stronghold.

The tremendous PAC aligned with Senate Democrats mentioned on Wednesday that it’s going to spend almost $6 million on a troublesome tv advert centered on the allegations of bodily violence and abuse in opposition to Mr. Walker. The advertisement strikes a somber tone, quoting Mr. Walker’s ex-wife, Cindy Grossman, his son Christian and an ex-girlfriend, all saying that Mr. Walker threatened them. It concludes, “Herschel Walker doesn’t belong in the Senate.”

Mr. Walker’s marketing campaign didn’t reply to a request for remark.

Mr. Walker has continued to be hit by damaging news. Last week, a county official in Texas confirmed that Mr. Walker filed to receive a tax exemption for his dwelling there, citing the property as his major residence, though he was operating for workplace as a resident of Georgia. The news, first reported by CNN, prompted a grievance from Democrats, who’ve requested the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the state legal professional basic to evaluate whether or not he ran afoul of residency guidelines.

Mr. Walker has not answered questions on the matter; he has largely stopped speaking to reporters. He was additionally notably silent this week as different Georgia Republicans denounced former President Donald J. Trump for internet hosting Kanye West and Nick Fuentes, two figures who’ve made racist and antisemitic statements, at his non-public membership in Florida.

In one signal of Mr. Walker’s pursuit of average voters, his marketing campaign agreed this week with aides to Mr. Trump, a political benefactor, that the former president would not campaign in Georgia for Mr. Walker.

Representatives for Mr. Walker didn’t reply to questions on his closing technique. His allies have mentioned that he had personal obligations that stored him from campaigning final weekend, together with a memorial service for his former University of Georgia soccer coach, Vince Dooley, on Friday and an 85th birthday celebration for his mother on Saturday.

Mr. Walker has tried to counter the onslaught of criticism by acknowledging his lack of political expertise.

“God prepared me for this moment because he didn’t want a politician,” he mentioned on Monday at a marketing campaign occasion in Cumming, Ga. “I’m not a politician. I can run that football. I can run track. And I do all those other things. I’m that warrior that God was looking for.”

Mr. Walker’s marketing campaign has additionally run destructive commercials about Mr. Warnock. One on the airwaves in main markets on Tuesday revisited a 2020 home dispute between the senator and his ex-wife, in addition to allegations that an condominium constructing with ties to Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, the place Mr. Warnock is the senior pastor, was stored in squalid circumstances and that its employees members threatened to evict tenants for low excellent money owed.

Mr. Warnock has condemned the allegations as a “desperate” try and tarnish the title of his church. He informed reporters in October that no evictions passed off at the condominium constructing this 12 months. A consultant for the complicated told The New York Times that no evictions had been carried out since 2020.

In the first three weeks of the four-week runoff, Democrats spent roughly $46 million on tv and radio advertisements, whereas Republicans spent simply over $20 million, in line with the promoting information tracker AdImpact.

Mr. Warnock’s message has turn into tightly centered on amplifying voters’ misgivings about Mr. Walker. In a spot that began operating in main Georgia markets on Monday, voters are seen watching a series of videos of Mr. Walker in which he delivers a few of his stranger remarks, together with musings on vampire motion pictures and pregnant cows. The viewers react with disbelief, confusion and embarrassment.

Republicans acknowledge that the message in opposition to Mr. Walker has resonated.

“While certainly people are working hard in getting him elected, they are encountering concerns,” mentioned Martha Zoller, a Georgia-based conservative radio host and a former aide to Gov. Brian Kemp and former Senator David Perdue, two Georgia Republicans.

Democrats have largely centered on pushing their political base again out to vote, however Republicans are nonetheless engaged on persuading voters that Mr. Walker is the proper selection.

If the resolution voters make displays their desire between President Biden and the Republicans, Ms. Zoller mentioned, “then Herschel Walker’s got a chance.” “If the choice is strictly based on the two men,” she added, “it’s much more difficult.”

The argument for strict social gathering loyalty in Georgia grew to become tougher to make when Democrats received management of the Senate earlier this month, deflating the nationwide stakes in the race.

Still, a number of nationwide Republican figures have continued to marketing campaign alongside Mr. Walker in an effort to gin up enthusiasm amongst base voters and a fraction of moderates in the suburbs. Ronna McDaniel, the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, stumped with Mr. Walker on Tuesday alongside Senator-elect Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma.

Other high-profile Republicans, together with Nikki Haley, a former South Carolina governor, and Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, have hooked up their names to fund-raising emails for Mr. Walker over the previous few days, however they haven’t proven up in individual throughout the runoff.

Perhaps the most necessary surrogate for Mr. Walker is Governor Kemp, who pulled in simply over 200,000 extra votes than Mr. Walker to win re-election. Mr. Walker’s marketing campaign views Mr. Kemp as an influential voice with each conservatives and moderates who could also be motivated to vote for Mr. Walker. The governor has contributed employees and assets to Mr. Walker’s trigger and has appeared alongside Mr. Walker at a marketing campaign occasion and fund-raiser. He additionally minimize an advert with a direct-to-camera enchantment to voters on behalf of Mr. Walker.

“Herschel Walker will vote for Georgia — not be another rubber stamp for Joe Biden,” Mr. Kemp says in the advert. “That’s why I’m backing Herschel. And I hope you’ll join me in voting for him too.”

“It has been critical for Governor Kemp to put his arm around Herschel and make it a team sport,” mentioned Ralph Reed, a Walker supporter and the founding father of the Faith and Freedom Coalition. “That will be a driving message for college educated and suburban voters who might have held back before or might not have been inclined to turn out.”

Turnout, certainly, shall be essential. More than 800,000 people have cast ballots to date, in line with the Georgia Secretary of State, outpacing turnout throughout the early-voting interval of the 2018 basic election. The participation surge extends throughout the state, together with to counties that Mr. Walker received and the deep-blue metro Atlanta area.

The Democrats have known as in reinforcements, too. Former President Barack Obama will marketing campaign for Mr. Warnock in Atlanta on Thursday. The former first girl Michelle Obama has recorded a collection of robocalls encouraging folks to vote.

Jonathan Weisman contributed reporting.