ATLANTA – Former President Donald Trump has endorsed University of Georgia football great Herschel Walker for the U.S. Senate and state Sen. Burt Jones for lieutenant governor.
Trump’s friendship with Walker goes back to 1984, when Walker signed with the United States Football League’s New Jersey Generals, a team Trump owned.
Trump urged Walker to seek the Republican nomination for the Senate seat now held by Democrat Raphael Warnock for weeks before Walker entered the race last week.
“Herschel Walker is a friend, a patriot and an outstanding American who is going to be a great United States senator,” Trump wrote in his endorsement statement. “Herschel is tough on crime and borders, and he will always stand in support of law enforcement, military and our vets. He will fight hard for our Second Amendment and voter integrity.”
“Thank you to my friend President Trump for your support and encouragement!” Walker said. “Together, we will win back the U.S. Senate for Georgia!”
The Republican field in the 2022 Senate race also includes Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black; Latham Saddler, an Atlanta banking executive and former Navy SEAL officer; and Kelvin King, a small business owner and Air Force veteran also from Atlanta.
Jones, R-Jackson, was the first elected official in Georgia to support Trump for president back in 2016 and served as Trump campaign co-chairman in Georgia in 2016 and 2020.
Jones also was among a group of Senate Republicans who asked Gov. Brian Kemp to call a special session of the General Assembly shortly after last November’s elections to consider changes to Georgia’s election laws.
The group conducted hearings inside the state Capitol in December that lent ammunition to Trump’s claims of election fraud, which were subsequently dismissed in the courts.
“I am the only person in my race who has had the president’s back from day one, and it’s an honor to have his full support,” Jones said. “As lieutenant governor, I will work to advance the president’s America First agenda and continue to grow our economy, improve our schools, secure our elections, and keep Georgia safe.”
Also vying for the next year’s Republican nomination for lieutenant governor are state Senate President Pro Tempore Butch Miller of Gainesville and GOP activist Jeanne Seaver of Savannah.
Two Democratic state representatives, Erick Allen of Smyrna and Derrick Jackson of Tyrone, also are looking to step up to lieutenant governor.
The current lieutenant governor, Republican Geoff Duncan, is not seeking reelection.
ATLANTA – Herschel Walker’s Heisman Trophy-winning football exploits at the University of Georgia should be enough to win him the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate next spring on name recognition alone.
But political observers say his lack of political experience, personal baggage and close ties to former President Donald Trump render his hopes of defeating incumbent Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock in the 2022 general election more problematic.
Walker toted the football for UGA at a high point for the Bulldogs program, leading the way to a national championship in 1980 and capturing the Heisman as college football’s player of the year in 1982.
“Those who remember his success at UGA will give him a leg up in name recognition,” said Charles Bullock, a longtime political science professor at the university in Athens.
The other three candidates who preceded Walker’s entrance into the Republican Senate race last Wednesday don’t come close to matching his name ID.
Neither Latham Saddler, an Atlanta banking executive and former Navy SEAL officer, nor Kelvin King, a small business owner and Air Force veteran from Atlanta, has ever run for public office.
Although Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black has been elected statewide three times, the ag post is well down the ballot and doesn’t tend to produce household names.
Saddler and King responded to Walker’s candidacy by questioning the relevance of his football experience decades ago to the challenges facing Congress today.
“This campaign isn’t about the glories of yesterday,” Saddler said. “Georgians want a next-generation conservative leader who can beat Raphael Warnock.”
“He was a legend on the football field,” King conceded. “But this is not football.”
Black aired a TV ad several weeks ago when Walker’s candidacy was rumored but not official pointing out the native of rural Wrightsville, Ga., has lived in Texas for decades, while Black has lived in Georgia all his life.
Walker has responded since then by registering to vote in Georgia, using an Atlanta address.
There are examples of football celebrity leading to the halls of Congress. Former University of Oklahoma quarterback J. C. Watts and Pro Football Hall of Fame wide receiver Steve Largent both served in the U.S. House of Representatives during the 1990s and early 2000s representing Oklahoma.
Former Auburn University head football coach Tommy Tuberville was elected last year to represent Alabama in the Senate.
Unlike Walker, who earned his football accolades nearly 40 years ago, Tuberville’s football stardom is of much more recent vintage.
But Bullock said the decades that have passed since the Walker era at UGA likely won’t hurt his chances for the Republican Senate nomination because of the makeup of the GOP electorate in Georgia.
“The voters in the Republican primary are going to be white, older voters,” Bullock said. “They’re more likely to remember his glory days.”
Bullock said another advantage Walker will enjoy with GOP voters is his close ties with Trump. Their friendship goes back to 1984, when Trump was part owner of the New Jersey Generals of the upstart United States Football League, where Walker began his pro career.
Trump publicly touted Walker’s potential as a Senate candidate for weeks before he decided to entry the fray, and Georgia’s Republican Party remains full of Trump loyalists convinced last year’s presidential election was rigged, despite numerous court rulings to the contrary.
“A component of the [primary] electorate will say, ‘He’s Trump’s man. That’s all we need to know,’ ” Bullock said.
But to the extent Trump helps Walker in the Republican primary, his close ties to the former president likely will hurt him in the general election, Bullock said. That has Georgia Republicans who want the party to move away from Trump worried.
“I do not know a single credible Republican strategist in Georgia or Washington who thinks [Walker] can be beaten in the primary,” wrote Erick Erickson, an Atlanta-based conservative radio host. “I do not know a single credible Republican strategist who thinks he can win the general.”
Republicans also are wary of the negative press coverage that has already emerged of Walker’s struggles with mental illness and court records claiming violent behavior.
“If any Republican in Georgia told you they didn’t have concerns about his candidacy, they’d be lying to you. We all have concerns,” Chip Lake, a Georgia-based GOP strategist told Roll Call, a Washington, D.C., newspaper and website that covers Congress.
Still, Walker’s formidable image as a candidate has chased some candidates out of the Senate race. U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Savannah, had been thinking about running but has now endorsed Walker.
Former Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who lost to Warnock last January in a runoff, has said she will wait and see how Walker is faring in the contest before deciding whether to become a candidate.
But the current candidates are staying put, at least for now, and urging Walker to get out on the campaign trail and debate the issues with them.
“We need to have this discussion,” Black said in a video his campaign released shortly after Walker declared his candidacy. “It’s about the future of our country.”
ATLANTA – University of Georgia football icon Herschel Walker officially launched his U.S. Senate campaign Wednesday with a short video touting his small-town Georgia roots and distaste for today’s brand of partisan politics.
Walker filed paperwork Tuesday to seek the Republican nomination for the Senate seat now held by Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, instantly vaulting to front-runner status for next year’s GOP primary.
The video, released on Twitter and YouTube, opens with shots of Walker’s hometown of Wrightsville and footage of his athletic performances as a sprinter in track and a running back in football, culminating in his winning the Heisman Trophy as college football’s best player in 1982.
“I’m a kid from a small town in Georgia who’s lived the American dream, and I’m ready to fight to keep that dream alive,” he said in the video.
Walker criticized the divisiveness that characterizes politics today and vowed a different approach.
“The politicians pit Americans against Americans, rich versus poor, Black versus white, urban versus rural,” he said. “I don’t believe in that garbage. It’s a lie.
“I’m a conservative not because someone told me to be. I’m a conservative because I believe in smaller government, a strong military, personal responsibility and making sure all people have the opportunity to pursue their dreams. That’s an America worth fighting for.”
Georgia Democrats greeted Walker’s entry into the race as proof positive that Republican infighting will hurt the GOP’s chances to defeat Warnock. Walker enters a Republican contest that already features three declared candidates, with former Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who lost to Warnock in January, a potential fourth entrant.
The best known of the three candidates preceding Walker in the race, Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black, sought to lure Walker away from pre-packaged messaging like Wednesday’s video, inviting him to hit the campaign trail and debate the issues in the flesh.
Walker is former President Donald Trump’s pick in the race, giving him a strong base of support among Trump loyalists in Georgia. Trump has been urging Walker for weeks to enter the contest.
Other Georgia Republicans, however, are anxious that the party move beyond Trump’s unsuccessful efforts to overturn the results of last year’s presidential election, culminating in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters.
ATLANTA – University of Georgia football icon Herschel Walker filed paperwork Tuesday to seek the Republican nomination for the Georgia U.S. Senate seat now held by Democrat Raphael Warnock.
Walker’s long-anticipated entry into the race promises to touch off a long, divisive campaign pitting Georgia Republicans loyal to former President Donald Trump against those who would rather move on from the controversy stirred by Trump’s reelection loss to Democrat Joe Biden last fall and subsequent unsuccessful bid to overturn the election.
Trump has been urging Walker, who has lived in Texas for decades, to jump into the contest. After publicly flirting with the idea for weeks, Walker registered to vote in Georgia last week.
On Tuesday, he filed a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission as well as a separate statement of organization for Team Herschel Inc., which will serve as his campaign team.
While Walker did not issue any statements on his candidacy on Tuesday, the Democratic Party of Georgia predicted it will damage Republican chances of unseating Warnock next year.
“Walker’s entrance into Georgia’s chaotic GOP Senate primary is the nightmare scenario that Republicans have spent the entire [election] cycle trying to avoid,” Democratic spokesman Dan Gottlieb said. “By the end of this long, divisive, and expensive intra-party fight, it’ll be clear that none of these candidates are focused on the issues that matter most to Georgians.”
Walker is by far the most well-known Republican in the race. Candidates who have already entered the contest include Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture Gary Black; Latham Saddler, an Atlanta banking executive and former Navy SEAL officer; and Kelvin King, a small business owner and Air Force veteran from Atlanta.
Black welcomed Walker to the race Tuesday by releasing a video inviting Walker to debate the issues with him across Georgia, starting with Saturday’s 8th Congressional District Fish Fry in Perry.
“I’ve been a big fan of yours since we were in college together, before you moved away,” Black said to Walker in the video, referring to the years Walker has spent away from Georgia.
Black used the same theme in a recent TV ad, contrasting Walker’s time in Texas with his Georgia background.
Warnock was elected to the Senate in a runoff last January, defeating Republican incumbent Sen. Kelly Loeffler.
Because he is completing the unexpired term of retired Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., Warnock must run for the seat again next year rather than get to serve a full six-year Senate term.
ATLANTA – Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black is telling University of Georgia football icon Herschel Walker to put up or shut up in next year’s Republican race for the U.S. Senate.
Walker, former President Donald Trump’s pick to challenge incumbent Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, has been hinting he may run for the seat but hasn’t made a firm decision.
Black, who is already in the race, has released a TV ad contrasting his Georgia background with the fact that Walker now lives in Texas.
The ad starts with a video showing Walker in front of car with a Georgia license plate, saying he’s ready to “run with the Big Dogs.” The spot then cuts to Black standing beside and then getting into a tractor.
“For fun, my ride’s a tractor, and I’ve had Georgia plates all my life,” Black said.
While some potential Republican Senate candidates are on the sidelines waiting to see whether Walker will run, Black and two others haven’t hesitated to get into the contest.
Latham Saddler, an Atlanta banking executive and former Navy SEAL officer, and Kelvin King, a small business owner and Air Force veteran from Atlanta, have joined Black in declaring their candidates for the GOP Senate nomination.
Black and Walker attended the University of Georgia together during Walker’s freshman season.
“If my old classmate from UGA wants to join the conversation here in Georgia, I welcome hearing his ideas,” Black said. “But it takes more than pretending to change your car tags. Move here, pay taxes here, register and vote in some elections, and learn what Georgians have on their minds.”
