ATLANTA — Now that Donald Trump has announced a third run for the White House – the big question is whether he'll be on the campaign trail as fellow Republican Herschel Walker faces Democrat Raphael Warnock in the Senate race and how his announcement could impact the runoff’s results.
Walker spoke to a crowd of supporters for about 30 minutes Wednesday in McDonough. However, he never addressed Trump’s third run for president, but former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee who was there to support Walker – acknowledged members of the Republican party had encouraged Trump to wait until after the Senate runoff to announce his campaign.
“For his own reasons he didn’t, but he did talk about Herschel last night in his speech and I thought his speech was pitch perfect," Huckabee said.
While political analysts have speculated Trump’s announcement could re-energize Democratic turnout in the Senate runoff, Huckabee said he doesn’t believe it will negatively impact Walker.
“I think the president has been very helpful to Herschel helping him get a good start and whether or not it gets him good attention or not -- I don’t think Herschel needs any of us to campaign for him. He’s just stinking good," explained Huckabee.
Trump is the one who convinced Walker to enter the race in the first place. While he never joined Walker on the campaign trail this fall, the two remained allies with Walker working to reignite the MAGA base in Georgia, analysts said.
The former president's announcement comes just three weeks before the runoff on Dec. 6th. Warnock beat Walker by less than 1 percent in last week's contest, triggering the runoff.
11Alive political analyst Dr. Andra Gillespie said regardless of whether Trump is more involved in Walker’s campaign now – his announcement will likely be a factor in the outcome of the runoff.
“Donald Trump is a wild card and sometimes says things that could end up undermining the person for whom he is serving as a surrogate. And I think the big question is, does that benefit Walker?" Gillespie said.
Incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock has not directly responded to Trump's announcement, only tweeting last night that voters may be focused on Donald Trump but need to focus on Georgia.