Whether or not Herschel Walker survives the latest allegation about his problematic sexual past — funding a former girlfriend’s abortion more than a decade ago — complicates judging his relationship to the black community. Before this October surprise, the New York Times gave us a glimpse of Walker’s Georgia hometown. “All [Walker] campaign materials were in the white community,” said Curtis Dixon, who is Black and who taught and coached Mr. Walker, when he was a high school football prodigy. “The only … house that has a Herschel Walker poster is his family.”

The media has strongly suggested that Walker’s lack of black support reflects his deep deficiencies. John McWhorter concluded,

“The incumbent Democratic senator, Raphael Warnock, is Black, and Georgia Republicans presumably hope that a useful number of Black voters who might otherwise default to supporting him will be swayed by another Black candidate with a famous name, regardless of his lack of credentials.”