After Herschel Walker was roundly mocked in October for pulling out an honorary police badge during his debate with Sen. Raphael Warnock, a Georgia sheriff came out to run defense for him.
That sheriff, Greg Rowland, is from Johnson County, which includes Walker’s birthplace of Wrightsville. And, with Walker’s past in mind, Johnson County was an interesting outlier in the runoff election.
Johnson appears to be the only county that saw an increase in voters from the general election to the runoff. And while Walker still won the deep red, rural county by a large margin, that margin fell, from about 48 to 43 percentage points.
And that small-yet-significant shift of a few dozen votes, which was replicated to varying degrees in red counties across Georgia, appears to be the result of deliberate action the Warnock campaign took in the lead-up to Election Day. I reported in late November that Warnock’s camp intentionally scheduled stops in Wrightsville to energize voters in Walker’s hometown ahead of the runoff. (Among those voters was one of Walker’s former football coaches, who announced his support for Warnock.)
Warnock saluted Walker’s athletic accomplishments and acknowledged the pride voters may have felt over them, while also highlighting Walker’s clear unfitness for office.
In Wrightsville, @SenatorWarnock praises “favorite son” @HerschelWalker’s “razzle dazzle on that football field.” But says that doesn’t mean he’s fit to be in the U.S. Senate #gapol #gasen pic.twitter.com/9URcKE2yVT








