Courtesy of Scott Walker
Scott Walker’s business card features the Republican Party logo despite his renouncement
BY , Managing News Editor
AND , Senior Reporter
Scott Walker’s hands are purple.
The color, he explains, comes from the spray paint he has been using to create homemade campaign signs, a process that he regularly documents on his Facebook page via Facebook Live. Despite a lively and often controversial social media presence, Walker has not always been the user he is today.
“Before I won the primary I used no social media whatsoever,” Walker tells The Review in an interview. “It was just the signs and the talk radio. But now that I have a name and everybody knows my name, now I’m going on Facebook. As you know, it’s been quite a controversy, but I tell this to young people all the time — if you’ve got something to sell, get your name out there.”
Walker is the Republican candidate running against Lisa Blunt Rochester for Delaware’s At-Large Congressional District in the U.S. House. Earning the Republican party’s nomination has not come without its difficulties.
“I’m a Republican even though they kicked me out,” Walker says. “Best thing they ever did to me. It’s like, ‘Okay, keep it up boys. Keep up the negativity. I’m trying to get Democrats to vote for me now so, you know, perfect.’”
Walker comes from a political background that can be generally categorized as grassroots. He finds his political practices to be “unorthodox” and self-describes his own campaign as “poorly financed,” stressing how even that is an understatement.
“I do a lot of talk radio,” he says. “I make signs, I hang signs, that’s basically it.”
He continues by sharing that he believes in the saying “no publicity is bad publicity,” despite his adult children and his campaign manager telling him otherwise.
“I would go on talk radio and say just crazy things, outlandish things,” Walker says.
A campaign move that would come to hurt Walker, as he further explains, is that his campaign manager quit the same day as his interview with The Review, citing that Walker was doing too many interviews.
But Walker continues his fight for the seat despite an increasing number of setbacks. As far as his platform is concerned, Walker wants to focus on the economy, allocating government funds to “real issues” and minimizing government regulation like the Environmental Protection Agency, which he believes drives up costs.
“Forget all the rest of the stuff and think about the economy. The money. All the rest of it doesn’t matter,” Walker says.
Walker is particularly concerned with finances, and questions the cost of previous campus remodeling projects at The Scrounge, a location he recalls from his days at the university in the 1970s. Shifting from the subject of politics and now invested in the university, he asks about the changes made around campus and wonders if his old dorm is still around.
“Harrington A was the first co-ed dorm,” Walker says. “Okay? Now, I’m glad I’m not up for Supreme Court judgeship because there were some things that went on there. Thank goodness. I hope it stays there.”
Yet as far as the engagement of current students goes, Walker “feel[s] bad,” because “the world is not what it was when [he] graduated.
“There was all sorts of opportunities; a guy like me could start his own business and not worry about getting a license,” Walker says.
Although concerned with opportunities for young Delawareans, Walker isn’t making a push to secure their votes.
“You know I have not targeted college students yet because I’m unsure what the percentage of UD students are in-state voters,” Walker says. “I’m not sure, um, but I do know they’re mostly Democrat. I would assume they’re mostly Democrat, and now I’m looking for Democratic voters now. In a big way.”
And if he does secure these Democratic votes, Walker still plans to continue his current political process.
“If I get elected, I’m still gonna be going on radio talk shows,” Walker says. “And I’m still gonna be waving in traffic. I might put some signs up, too.”
