The reception area of a metro Atlanta office suite is a veritable museum of Herschel Walker's football success for the University of Georgia Bulldogs and the NFL.The reception area of a metro Atlanta office suite is a veritable museum of Herschel Walker's football success for the University of Georgia Bulldogs and the NFL. The office is part of the Atlanta Braves' real estate development in the Major League Baseball franchise's new suburban home.
For Republicans, whose coalition trends older, whiter and less urban than the general population, that means an open embrace of the Bulldogs and baseball's Braves, each with fan bases that trend whiter and more suburban and rural. And it's not just Walker, who carried the Bulldogs to the national championship in 1980 and won the Heisman Trophy two years later.
Democrats' coalition, meanwhile, is anchored by metropolitan areas and nonwhites, who now account for about 4 out of 10 Georgia voters. So, when politicians like Warnock bring sports into their campaigns, it's to drop by an Atlanta sports bar during the recent World Cup soccer match between the U.S. and Iran.
Certainly, there are white soccer fans in Republican-leaning suburbs and Democrats, white and Black, who love the Bulldogs and Braves. One of Warnock's top aides organized "Dawgs for Abrams" as a UGA undergraduate in 2018. Nonetheless, the partisan split in campaign styles dovetails with race and geography, even if it's not explicit.
The two Democrats also haven't said the Braves should change their name or abandon fans' "Tomahawk Chop" at home games, but others, including the Biden White House, have said changes should be on the table.
This guy is a little sleazy.