Walker to Win Georgia By 5-6 Points, Predicts Gingrich

Former House Speaker sees ‘lots of momentum’ in New York gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), in Washington on Oct. 24, 2019. Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times

GOP senate hopeful Herschel Walker could carry Georgia by as many as six points in the midterms, according to former House Speaker and Epoch Times contributor Newt Gingrich.

Gingrich’s optimism for Walker came right after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) was caught on hot mic acknowledging the Democrats’ anxiety for Georgia.

“The state where we’re going downhill is Georgia. It’s hard to believe that they will go for Herschel Walker,” Schumer told President Joe Biden in Syracuse, before adding: “But our vote, our early turnout in Georgia is huge—huge.”

Walker, a former NFL and college football star, is ahead of Democrat incumbent Raphael Warnock by 2 to 5 points in five polls from the past week.

Republican Senate candidate for Georgia Herschel Walker speaks at a campaign event with Nikki Haley in Gwinnett, Ga., on Sept. 9, 2022. Megan Varner/Getty Images

Georgia’s early voting has hit records since the state began accepting ballots on Oct. 17. As of Oct. 28, one in five active Georgia voters have cast their ballots, with about 90 percent of them—1.25 million—doing so in person, data from state officials show. It’s an “enormous” turnout, Gingrich said, but Democrats should not count it to work in their favor.

By ethnicity, the turnout of white and black voters are 57.8 percent and 30 percent respectively, proportionate to the size of their population in the state, which Gingrich took as a sign that Georgia voters have been particularly energized.

“What we’re seeing in Georgia is that both white and black voters are turning out in huge numbers, and that it’s very likely that Republicans this year are actually voting early, which they did not do in the past,” he told The Epoch Times.

Polling data aggregator RealClearPolitics rated the race as a tossup and projected a runoff on Dec. 6. But Gingrich believes Walker may be able to break 50 percent support to avoid an overtime fight.

He cited a Warnock campaign infomercial showing people clear food from Thanksgiving dinner table for the runoff election, a scenario that Warnock said they his supporters could prevent by voting early.

In a Walker campaign spinoff, all the dishes came with a price tag displaying how much costs have gone up over the past year, an issue that has topped voter concerns.

“It was a devastatingly effective ad,” Gingrich said.

Seeing a Red Wave

Gingrich last week told The Epoch Times that he believes Republicans could control both chambers of the Congress after the Nov. 8 elections by large margins—with a gain of seven seats in the Senate and between 20 to 50 seats in the House.

The GOP needs five more seats to claim a House majority, and one more to take the Senate.

The Republicans’ prospects, in his assessment, have only gotten brighter.

“The Democrats are panicking and the left-wing news media is panicking, and that will accelerate in the next week as it really sinks in how bad it’s going to be,” he said.

In the New Hampshire senate battle, Republican Don Bolduc has been gaining in the polls. An Oct. 25-26 Coefficient survey of 1,098 likely voters put him and Democrat Sen. Maggie Hassan in a tie.

In Arizona, Republican challenger Blake Masters is behind his opponent Sen. Mark Kelly by two points, according to two polls by Fox 10/InsiderAdvantage and Coefficient. The Democrat’s lead on RealClearPolitics has slid one point to 1.5 percent.

Gingrich made a particular mention of New York, where he thinks the sitting Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul is “in real trouble” after her one and only debate on Oct. 25 with Republican opponent Rep. Lee Zeldin.

Lee Zeldin holds a press conference to address pressing issues in New York City on Oct. 26, 2022. Phil Zou/NTD

One “classic moment,” Gingrich said, was when Hochul said she didn’t get why crime was “so important” to Zeldin.

Eight subway killings have taken place since the start of the year, including three in the past two months, according to police data.

“In a city where eight people have been killed in the subways this year, where people have been killed by random ricochet bullets, where people are afraid to go out on the street, I think this just made the governor look like she was totally out of touch with normal people,” Gingrich said.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announces new concealed carry rules at a press conference on Aug. 31, 2022. Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images

While Hochul still leads by 7.3 points, the rapidly tightening contest has forced Hochul to recaliberate her campaign message and make a flurry of steps to address public safety. But Dov Hikind, a decades-long Democrat state lawmaker who has endorsed Zeldin, said he was “dumbfounded” by Hochul’s lack of a clear plan for the future.

“The No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 issues for New Yorkers are crime, crime, crime,” he told NTD news. “Hochul has no clue.”

Winning New York, Gingrich noted, will mark a first for Republicans since 1994, when George Pataki won governorship and served for the following decade. “But Zeldin seems to have a lot of momentum,” he added.

Zeldin’s rally on Long Island with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis drew a crowd of over 1,000 on Oct. 29, a turnout the congressman described as “incredible” given their one-day notice.

“10 days until New York elects a new Governor. It can’t happen soon enough!” Zeldin wrote on Twitter shortly after the event.