Trump’s super PAC swoops in to boost an ailing Walker
A new ad buy was placed by MAGA Inc. It doesn’t touch on allegations of abortion payments.
Georgia GOP Senate nominee Herschel Walker’s campaign put out its own ad noting that he had a checkered past and touting the redemption he sought and achieved. | Meg Kinnard/AP Photo
A super PAC backed by former President Donald Trump is pouring money into a last minute ad buy to boost Georgia Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker following a bruising week of headlines.
The ad by MAGA Inc., which was shared with POLITICO, focuses on culture wars and incumbent Democrat Sen. Raphael Warnock’s voting record — but makes no mention of Walker or his recent controversies.
“From D-Day to drag queen story time, America has lost its way. Radical Democrats are indoctrinating our children to hate America — opening our borders and crushing working people with taxes,” the ad says. “Raphael Warnock votes with Biden 96% of the time. Chaos at the border, crime in our neighborhoods, a collapsing economy — Biden and Warnock did that. Take our country back.”
On Friday, AdImpact, a media tracking firm, reported that MAGA Inc. placed a $750,000 ad buy in the state of Georgia in support of Walker.
The ad comes at a precarious moment for the Georgia Republican. Walker has faced a string of accusations that he pressured the mother of one of his children to have an abortion — once successfully and once unsuccessfully. Walker has denied the stories, which POLITICO has not independently verified. But while his allies have stuck by him, there is clear disagreement over how best to do so.
His pledge to file a defamation suit did not come to fruition. Instead, Walker’s campaign put out its own ad noting that he had a checkered past and touting the redemption he sought and achieved. And despite the media attention, the Walker campaign says it has raised over $500,000 in the aftermath of the allegation.
The hard-hitting pushback has been left to the outside groups, with the National Republican Senatorial Committee putting out an ad that attacked Warnock’s character and on deeply personal terms. But so far that spot is only being circulated as a web ad, according to a spokesperson.
Internally, the Walker campaign appeared to be in turmoil. A GOP operative working with the campaign and two other people close to the operation confirmed a CNN report that they had fired the political director, Taylor Crowe, on suspicion of leaking to the press. The firing, that person said, came on Tuesday. But it didn’t stop the stories from coming.
On Friday afternoon, the New York Times reported on the second, unsuccessful, attempt by Walker to have the mother of his child get an abortion. Asked about the story, the GOP operative replied: “Good thing I already started drinking.”
Sam Stein and Marianne Levine contributed to this report.
