His Senate run opened the candidate to scrutiny of his personal life, including the resurfacing of allegations of domestic violence and threats against former romantic partners.
Still, Walker breezed through the primary, skipping debates and forums that would have forced him to take clear policy positions and answer tough questions. His main competitor was Gary Black, the state’s longtime agriculture commissioner, but Black did not raise enough money to run a serious television advertising campaign that could have exploited Walker’s vulnerabilities.
Democrats won control of the US Senate last year, after Warnock and Jon Ossoff both won runoff elections in Georgia. But Democrats’ hold on the Senate is by the narrowest of margins — with Vice President Kamala Harris holding the tie-breaking vote in the 50-50 chamber — and the party cannot afford a net loss of a single seat in the 2022 midterms.
Walker has had a long relationship with Trump, dating to 1984, when the former President — then the owner of the United States Football League’s New Jersey Generals — gave Walker a contract extension.
Walker later appeared on NBC’s “The Celebrity Apprentice” with Trump and encouraged his 2016 and 2020 presidential bids.
