A new long-knives campaign to defeat Herschel Walker in the Georgia Senate race this November has been launched by the hilariously-named Republican Accountability PAC. Founded by the formerly conservative commentator Bill Kristol and some of his pals, RAPPAC is currently running ads almost exclusively against Republicans and in support of Democrats who hold no positions that could remotely be described as potentially advancing conservative interests. Their only criteria is whether or not a given candidate has the support of or any connection to Donald Trump. (Trump has endorsed Walker.)

The attack they’re currently ginning up against Walker looks serious. They plan on spending millions of dollars to attempt to reelect Raphael Warnock, a member of the Senate who has never seen a socialist Democratic proposal he didn’t like. To do this, they have produced an advertisement attacking Walker not for the political positions he has espoused, but for his personal life and relationships. They also plan to air ads highlighting some misstatements that he has admittedly made on the campaign trail. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

A new 30-second ad from the Republican Accountability PAC is among the first to include footage of Republican Senate hopeful Herschel Walker’s ex-wife graphically describing him choking her and threatening to shoot her during their marriage.

“Do you think you know Herschel Walker?” the ad says. “Think again.”

The attack ad is backed by a six-figure buy and is part of RAPAC’s plan to spend at least $10 million in six swing states to defeat fellow Republicans who echoed former President Donald Trump’s election conspiracies.

Here’s the advertisement. They have his ex-wife telling a rather harrowing story.

To be honest, since Herschel Walker didn’t play for the Jets, I really never paid that much attention to him beyond the records that he broke. And I certainly never knew much about his personal life off the field or the ups and downs of his marriage. One of his primary opponents brought up these allegations earlier this year and Politifact looked into the claims from his ex-wife. They noted that Walker was never arrested or charged with any domestic violence incidents.

But in a book that he published in 2008, he did note that he went through a period in his life where he acted out inappropriately while dealing with mental health issues and had “impacted” people in his life. If the wife’s claims are accurate, that was truly reprehensible behavior, but without more substantive support from law enforcement, these remain in the category of allegations made by people in the process of divorcing.

As to the inaccurate claims Walker has made on the campaign trail, ranging from his education to his business achievements, we’ve covered those here in the past. He’s made many rookie mistakes on the campaign trail. But all of this information has been out there for quite a while now and was used against him in the primary, as I already said. The GOP voters in Georgia decided to go with him anyway.

Herschel Walker wasn’t some unknown stranger who suddenly showed up for a Senate race. He is who he is and the more interesting and occasionally disturbing parts of his life were available for all to see. If that’s enough to sink his general election hopes, then the fault will not be with Walker, but with the people who stood in line to support his candidacy. And if that happens it will be a real shame, because Raphael Warnock should have been a very beatable incumbent in a seat that the GOP very much needs to flip.