Editor’s note: This is one of a series of articles in months to come on candidates for statewide office
Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black is hitting the trail hard for Senate as the primary looms in just a few months.
Gary Black
Black made the rounds on radio Monday around his appearance at the Faith and Freedom luncheon. Black appeared on the Gainesville-based conservative Martha Zoller’s show and on the Virginia-based John Fredericks show.
“I’ve yet to see Herschel Walker make a policy speech on anything and its January,” said Black. “I just don’t know how long you can go in a race without taking a position or making a stump speech or laying out your policies.”
“The two million voters who voted for me in 2018. They see the difference in someone who has delivered, someone with experience, someone who’s earned their trust and someone who is a wind-up toy. I’m going to be a senator who is going to put a team together to serve Georgia and Georgians are not interested in having a staff who has to get up every morning and put their senator together. There’s a ton of concerns Georgians are seeing.”
Walker has been endorsed by Trump but also by some of the senators in Washington D.C. – including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and John Thune (R-SD), the Minority Whip, 11 total in all. Black pushed back on these endorsements and stands by his record and experience as an elected conservative and thinks it will bring people around.
“I guess Republican leadership in the United States senate want to support celebrity instead of substance but we’ll win this race and all pull this family together. I think the president will be happy when this is over with and I’ll bring that conservative energy and record and good policy positions that Americans want.”
Black has been criss-crossing the state and has received hundreds of endorsements from local or state level officials in Georgia, including former Governor Nathan Deal, former Congressman Doug Collins, Public Service Commissioners Bubba McDonald, Tricia Pridemore and Jason Shaw, 54 state legislators, 75 Georgia sheriffs and 103 county commissioners.
With some exceptions, the race is shaping up to be a local versus national scenario. Republicans on the ground in Georgia are largely endorsing Black, while nationally, Republicans based in Washington D.C. are backing Donald Trump’s play in endorsing Walker. Walker is doing a number of private events with fewer public appearances and Black is following the Matthew 18:20 campaign strategy – “For where two or more are gathered in my name, there am I with them.”
Some Republicans are concerned Walker is untested and erratic for a campaign against the sitting Senator Raphael Warnock, a pastor noted for his oratory and who has honed his skills as a campaigner. Black has already won a statewide race several times and his name will be no stranger on the ballot, despite his relative celebrity compared to his primary opponent. Walker certainly has some scandals to his name but his campaign has so far been adept at downplaying but not ignoring these issues. When it comes to a debate stage – which Walker has so far dodged, general election campaign or even as we get closer to the primary, that might be a bigger challenge.
