“Our country is at a crossroads, and I can’t sit on the sidelines anymore,” said Walker in a statement. “In the United States Senate, I will stand up for conservative values and get our country moving in the right direction. It is time to have leaders in Washington who will fight to protect the American Dream for everybody.”
“Herschel Walker understands the predicament our country is now in and the importance of those who love this country to step forward and do what it takes to save it,” said Randy Evans, a Georgia lawyer and former US ambassador to Luxembourg in the Trump administration.
But other GOP strategists and lawmakers from Georgia to Washington, DC, are deeply worried about Walker’s campaign, fearing that Walker could cost the GOP a winnable seat. Three Republican candidates — Georgia agriculture commissioner Gary Black, construction firm owner Kelvin King and banking executive and Navy veteran Latham Saddler — have already announced their campaigns.
Walker’s campaign noted that he grew up in Wrightsville, Georgia, said he succeeded as a professional athlete and in his various businesses. He “dedicated his life to helping others with similar struggles” to his dissociative identity disorder, and visited “thousands of troops and patients struggling with mental health” over the years, the campaign also highlighted.
“America is the greatest country in the world, but too many politicians in Washington are afraid to say that,” said Walker. “Where else could a poor kid from a small town in Georgia become valedictorian of his high school, earn the Heisman Trophy, play professional football, represent the United States in the Olympics, and become CEO of multiple companies? I have lived the American Dream, but I am concerned it is slipping away for many people.”
“Walker’s entrance into Georgia’s chaotic GOP Senate primary is the nightmare scenario that Republicans have spent the entire cycle trying to avoid,” said Georgia Democratic party spokesman Dan Gottlieb. “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 has a long relationship with the former President going back to 1984, when Trump — the then-owner of the United States Football League’s New Jersey Generals — gave Walker a contract extension.
They stayed in touch. Donald Trump Jr. recounts in his book “Triggered” that he went to Disney World when he was 6 with Walker’s family, and Walker would visit the Trumps at their house in Greenwich, Connecticut. Walker later appeared on NBC’s “The Celebrity Apprentice” with Trump and encouraged his 2016 and 2020 presidential bids.
In December, Walker tweeted a video supporting Trump’s effort to overturn his loss to then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. Trump responded, “Herschel is speaking the truth!
CNN’s Manu Raju contributed to this report.