All Herschel Walker had to do was announce his candidacy, and the former running back broke free of the line of other Republicans and ran to score the GOP nomination to challenge Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock. Walker’s immense popularity in the Peach State dates back to his days at the University of Georgia, when the Bulldogs won the 1980 football national title and Walker won 1982 Heisman Trophy. It certainly seems, however, that the state Republican Party failed to fully vet its guy.

October surprise allegations that Walker paid for an unidentified girlfriend’s abortion back in 2009 were intended to damage the credibility of a guy running as the pro-life candidate — especially a “proud pro-life Christian” who sees “no exception” to banning the barbaric practice of abortion. The story is backed by the literal receipt and other evidence corroborated by witnesses, though Walker denies it. “I can tell you right now, I never asked anyone to get an abortion,” he insisted. “I never paid for an abortion and it’s a lie.” He promises to sue The Daily Beast for defamation over the “repugnant hatchet job” written by “a democrat [sic] activist disguised as a reporter.”

Of the $700 personal check Walker wrote to the old girlfriend, he says, “I give money to people all the time because I’m always helping people — because I believe in being generous.”

The truth is that Walker’s personal life was already a liability. He’s fathered four children, including three out of wedlock, and his adult homosexual son bears witness (in more ways than one) to Walker’s failures as a father. Having previously publicly supported his dad’s Senate bid, Christian Walker took to Twitter with a number of posts slamming his father for lying and mistreating his family. That history includes the infamous incident involving threatening his then-wife while holding a gun to her head.

Walker has been honest about his problematic mental health. As for the abortion revelations, there could be understandable explanations, but is he being honest? We certainly don’t trust the Leftmedia to tell the truth, especially when it comes to blacks who don’t stay on the Democrat Plantation. For example, it’s telling that The Daily Best says Walker and his girlfriend “conceived a child.” For the side that denies life in the womb, using such language can only mean the purpose is to inflict greater damage on Walker. It’s also telling that these allegations didn’t come out until Walker had overtaken Warnock in the polls.

Still, something seems off about Walker’s denial.

As Jim Geraghty put it, “A better candidate would have leaked the details of a past scandal to a more friendly news institution, talked about the hard lessons and what he learned, how he became a better person, and then after a few days declare it old news.” Even given the way it played out, admission and contrition would have won quick forgiveness from pro-lifers who are used to embracing converted former abortionists and people like Norma McCorvey, the plaintiff in Roe.

Naturally, Democrats are spiking the football. See, they say, Walker’s an unworthy hypocrite and a moral failure. What they would rather you forget is that Raphael Warnock is no better. The “reverend” also has been accused of domestic abuse, which he too denies. Moreover, he adds an anti-Semitic and anti-American Marxist past to his radical record doing Chuck Schumer’s bidding as Georgia’s senator for the last two years.

Still, Republicans have a big problem. Warnock’s hatchet men in the media know that pro-lifers aren’t going to ditch Walker and vote for Warnock, who wants taxpayer-funded abortion right up until birth. But Democrats know that some folks will sit on the sidelines and not vote. That could blow a golden opportunity for the GOP to take back a key Senate seat in a desperate race to wrestle control of the upper chamber from Schumer and the Democrats.

After costing the GOP both Georgia Senate seats in 2020, Donald Trump endorsed Walker early on. Along with a couple of other dubious Trump picks this year, it’s possible the GOP will lose Georgia’s seat for a second time, and that could cost them the Senate itself. That would be an astounding fumble.

Then again, Republican voters did rally around the similarly flawed Trump — twice. These voters, argues Ben Domenech, “are more interested in winning no matter what than in feeling good about polite honorable losers.”

Like it or not, Walker is the GOP candidate. “The Georgia senate race is now between one man with a very sketchy personal life and a history of domestic abuse vs. another man with a sketchy personal life who won’t vote for $9 gas, open borders, and unlimited abortion,” says Greg Price. “Make your choice, Georgia. ‘But Herschel Walker was a bad candidate.’ Okay, but the bottom line is he is still the Republican nominee and that is not changing. There are only two choices, both of them have flawed personal lives, but one will give Chuck Schumer two more years with control of the Senate.”

Update: The still-anonymous woman who accused Walker of paying for an abortion also says he fathered a child with her.