Trump urges college football legend Herschel Walker to run for US Senate in Georgia
Former President Donald Trump said football legend Herschel Walker should consider tackling a new venture: politics.
Trump on Wednesday joined a growing chorus of voices encouraging the former NFL star to run for a seat in the U.S. Senate representing his home state of Georgia, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
“Wouldn’t it be fantastic if the legendary Herschel Walker ran for the United States Senate in Georgia?” Trump said in a statement issued through his Save America super PAC.
“He would be unstoppable, just like he was when he played for the [University of] Georgia Bulldogs, and in the NFL,” Trump continued. “He is also a GREAT person. Run Herschel, run!”
The bid would put Herschel head to head with newly elected U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, who defeated GOP incumbent Kelly Loeffler to become Georgia’s first Black U.S. senator. Warnock, who is an Atlanta pastor, will be up for re-election in 2022 and is already drumming up a slew of potential Republican challengers.
Loeffler and former U.S. Rep. Doug Collins are among those eyeing next year’s race, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. But Trump’s call for the Heisman Trophy winner to run could fire up more Republicans to support a Walker-Warnock face off.
Trump and Walker are longtime friends with a relationship that dates back to the early 1980s when Walker was drafted to the New Jersey Generals, a team owned by Trump in the short-lived United States Football League, Newsweek reported.
Their friendship has grown over the years, with Walker becoming one of the former president’s most loyal supporters. Herschel, who is Black, has defended Trump against critics who accused him of being racist and a bully.
“I take that as a personal insult, that people would think I’ve had a 37-year friendship with a racist,” Walker said in a speech at the 2020 Republican National Convention. “People don’t know what they’re talking about. Growing up in the Deep South, I’ve seen racism up close. I know what it is. And it isn’t Donald Trump.”
Walker hasn’t commented publicly on Trump’s statement issued through the political action committee. But several people took to social media to sound off on the idea of him entering the Senate race.
“If Herschel Walker runs for Senate in 2022, that will be something,” one person wrote on Twitter. “I don’t know exactly what it will be but it will be something.”
“Forget running for senate - Don’t rule out Herschel Walker being Trump’s running mate for 2024,” wrote another. “Sounds like the kind of move he’d make.”
This story was originally published March 11, 2021 at 11:38 AM.