Herschel Walker's run for office will be uphill all the way

In football, they use the term "running downhill" to describe when a ball carrier has a full head of steam and is not trying to dodge and evade tacklers. Perhaps no player has ever run "downhill" better than Herschel Walker, the University of Georgia icon.

Walker's latest run is for elected office, not the end zone, and in this one he's most certainly running uphill. New revelations about exaggerations, lies and hypocritical statements emerge daily, and his ignorance on policy and current affairs means he can't counter his closet skeletons with dazzling rhetoric.

Then there's those oh-so-telling primary results.

Walker won his race easily with 68% of the vote. But his vote total fell 80,000 short of the other dominant Republican on the ballot, gubernatorial candidate Brian Kemp - you know Kemp, the guy who was supposed to struggle in a party primary because former President Donald Trump had labeled him a traitor.

Kemp received 10% more votes than Walker despite facing a much higher-profile challenger in former Sen. David Perdue. There's only one way to interpret that: Even Republican voters don't trust Walker the elected official.

That's not to say those GOP voters who cast ballots for Walker's primary rivals won't rally behind the candidate come November. Many will, especially with majority control of the Senate on the line.

However, Walker's opponent, Sen. Raphael Warnock, isn't an overtly polarizing figure likely to alienate swing voters and push them toward his opponent. He might not attract a significant number of anti-Walker GOP primary voters but he won't give them reasons to reconsider Walker.

The guess here is this: Many will vote the party line and go for Walker; some will cross and cast ballots for Warnock; and a few - a few too many for Walker - will leave that race unchecked on the ballot.

Walker faces six months of running uphill in his campaign, a position that neither a political candidate or football player wants to be in.

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— Written by Opinion Columnist Adam Van Brimmer. Contact him at avanbrimmer@SavannahNow.com and follow him on Twitter @SavannahOpinion. Read more posts like this in the Savannah Town Square Facebook group.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Herschel Walker running for U.S. Senate against incumbent Warnock