How did Herschel Walker win the Republican primary in a landslide?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I didn't really follow that primary because I was more intrigued by Trumpist weirdos in others, but he's one of the most objectively terrible candidates nominated for a competitive Senate seat in many cycles, he also won by a WIDE margin and had multiple serious opponents including a statewide office holder. It's not like the Georgia HOP has a shallow bench by any means so how did they go with someone who seems like would be the result of scraping the bottom of the barrel?

[Mr.Phips]

Trump supported him.

[Atlas Force]

It's not like the Georgia HOP has a shallow bench by any means so how did they go with someone who seems like would be the result of scraping the bottom of the barrel?

Georgia House of Pancakes???

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Trump supported him.

But Kemp and Raffensperger won easily.

[Mr.Phips]

Trump supported him.

But Kemp and Raffensperger won easily.

They were established incumbents. 

[Sestak]

To be more specific, Trump supported Walker early. This isn’t like Oz or Vance where Trump tweeted (truthed?) an endorsement of a flawed candidate days before the primary to get them over the line. He was in the tank for Walker as soon as the cycle started, and others were afraid to get in - especially given that Trump-backed challenges looked like serious threats even against popular incumbents (though ofc those challenges would eventually fade and fail, but by the time this was obvious Walker had already been in the race for a while and dominated polling).

[Gracile]

Mitch McConnell also endorsed Walker fairly early (as well as some other prominent Senators), which was a sign that the GOP establishment was largely behind Walker's candidacy and prevented Gary Black or anyone else from gaining traction.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

To be more specific, Trump supported Walker early. This isn’t like Oz or Vance where Trump tweeted (truthed?) an endorsement of a flawed candidate days before the primary to get them over the line. He was in the tank for Walker as soon as the cycle started, and others were afraid to get in - especially given that Trump-backed challenges looked like serious threats even against popular incumbents (though ofc those challenges would eventually fade and fail, but by the time this was obvious Walker had already been in the race for a while and dominated polling).

That makes more sense but then it also raises the question why the GOP establishment was so stupid about this too. Unless it's because they honestly thought having a black candidate would help them which is probably true... continuing to show how much Republicans understand the black vote.

[Nyvin]

To be more specific, Trump supported Walker early. This isn’t like Oz or Vance where Trump tweeted (truthed?) an endorsement of a flawed candidate days before the primary to get them over the line. He was in the tank for Walker as soon as the cycle started, and others were afraid to get in - especially given that Trump-backed challenges looked like serious threats even against popular incumbents (though ofc those challenges would eventually fade and fail, but by the time this was obvious Walker had already been in the race for a while and dominated polling).

That makes more sense but then it also raises the question why the GOP establishment was so stupid about this too. Unless it's because they honestly thought having a black candidate would help them which is probably true... continuing to show how much Republicans understand the black vote.

I read somewhere earlier in the year that the establishment liked him because he apparently was willing to self-fund his campaign.