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Democrats are feverishly promoting stories about Republicans hiding abortion and killing puppies as the party scrambles to shift the conversation away from kitchen table issues that are top-of-mind priorities for voters.
Less than 24 hours earlier, it was a somewhat similar story in the U.S. Senate race in Pennsylvania where Lt. Gov. John Fetterman’s campaign tried to make the most of a report from the feminist website Jezebel that Republican Mehmet Oz, who also is gaining ground in polls, was involved in medical research studies that led to the deaths of 300 dogs.
The timing of the stories raised eyebrows and generated swift blowback from Republicans who accused Democrats and the mainstream media of running with bogus claims to boost Mr. Warnock and Mr. Fetterman.
While the criticism of Mr. Oz was almost universally written off as absurd and a reach, the accusation against Mr. Walker had more bite — particularly after his 23-year-old son, Christian, took to social media to describe his father as a deadbeat dad and far from the “moral family man” he portrays himself to be.
“I’m done!” he said about his father’s campaign. “Everything has been a lie!”
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For his part, Mr. Walker called the report a “flat-out lie” and threatened to sue the Daily Beast, which stood by its reporting.
Republicans were left urging Mr. Waker to go on the offensive and pondering whether the report could put a significant dent in the GOP’s chances of sending Mr. Warnock packing.
Some Republicans said Mr. Walker is toast, predicting the same GOP voters — including moderates and women living in the suburbs — who refused to vote for former President Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential race will not be able to stomach voting for Mr. Walker.
Other Republicans said Mr. Walker “isn’t impacted at all” by the “hit piece” and said his campaign has raised at least $182,000 since the story ran.
David Johnson, a GOP strategist, said Mr. Walker’s political baggage would have sunk just about any other candidate at this point in the race, but his star power has made him bulletproof — at least up until now.
“No one knows what sort of impact it will have,” Mr.
