Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Salon
Salon
Politics
Meaghan Ellis

Walker's staff blame loss on his wife

Georgia Republican Senate hopeful Herschel Walker's campaign staffers are weighing in with their reactions to their candidate's recent loss to Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.).

According to The Daily Beast's Roger Sollenberger, one thing that appears to have been a concern for multiple staffers is the campaign dysfunction behind closed doors and the relatively negative impact of Walker's current wife.

Although it's no secret Walker, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, was at the center of multiple scandals, staffers insist his wife contributed greatly to crippling his campaign.

"This account of Walker as a lying, delusional, confused, misled candidate—eager to believe what sounded good and dismiss the bad—is based on interviews with five campaign staffers and people close to the candidate," Sollenberger wrote.

"Staffers painted a picture of a man who was personally charming—a congenial, generous Southerner who would always inquire about his staff's well-being—but who was often seeking and accepting advice from the least experienced people in the room: namely, his 'redpilled' wife Julie Blanchard, as two staffers put it, and his friend and sometime agent Michele Beagle," he added.

Another staffer also offered a brutal assessment of the situation. That staffer argued, "Pardon my french, but f--k Julie and f--k Michele Beagle," with Sollenberger also noting that the staffer likened, "Blanchard to 'Lady Macbeth' and Beagle's amoebic role as campaign chair to a 'minister without portfolio.'"

Another campaign aide weighed in saying, "The best spouses know how to calm the candidate, but Julie was more like an accelerant for Walker's worst instincts."

According to the news outlet's report, "Staff and advisers said Blanchard and Beagle posed a running challenge throughout the campaign: a group of experienced political operatives wrangling an unfocused, unreliable candidate away from distractions and unhelpful influences."

One staffer also expressed regret saying, "We held it together best we could, with f--king duct tape and Band-Aids."

Another aide also noted, "If we had to do that one over again, probably would have made sense to do the Kemp rally."

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.