Georgia’s GOP Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan put the blame for Herschel Walker’s senate candidacy squarely on former President Donald Trump. (Watch the videos below.)
In a revealing interview with Anderson Cooper on CNN Thursday, Duncan took multiple shots at Trump’s influence on the selection of the beleaguered GOP nominee Walker to run against Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock.
“We didn’t ask who was the best leader. We didn’t ask who had the best resume,” Duncan said. “Unfortunately, Republicans looked around to see who Donald Trump supported. And [Walker] was a famous football player, and so he became our nominee, and now we’re paying the price for that.”
Walker, the former Heisman Trophy winner and NFL star, has been incoherent at times on the campaign trail and has been caught in several apparent lies or exaggerations. But his latest controversy prompted cries of hypocrisy when an ex-girlfriend revealed that he paid for her abortion and that she also had a child with him. Walker, who is running on a no-abortions-whatsoever platform, denies the allegation.
Duncan said Walker had not earned his respect and would not vote for either candidate. (Warnock leads Walker in several polls.)
Duncan believed disenchanted GOP voters would still turn out for Gov. Brian Kemp’s reelection bid against Democrat Stacey Abrams and for other state officials.
Cooper asked if the Walker campaign could do anything in the next few weeks to win his vote. Duncan, who recently compared Trump to the devil, replied by ratcheting up his criticism of the ex-president.
“Donald Trump led us down a rabbit trail post-election because he was too consumed with trying to save face from losing his election,” Duncan said. “And he ran us down a trail and we screwed up.”