Herschel Walker

Warnock's projected win over Walker marks a major loss for former President Donald Trump and could have a major impact on President Joe Biden's agenda.

The Senate bid has also raised questions about Walker's mental health, and [accusations by Walker's ex-wife](https://apnews.com/article/lifestyle-sports-nfl-college-football-coronavirus-pandemic-5e2875eec11e93f9a3bf1fc859137ff8), Cindy Grossman, resurfaced that he had been abusive and threatening toward her. With a 51-49 majority, Democrats will gain majorities on key Senate committees, which could make it easier for them to confirm nominees. [paid for an ex-girlfriend's abortion years earlier](https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/04/georgia-senate-election-donald-trump-defends-herschel-walker-after-abortion-report.html). It could also lessen the outsize influence wielded by a few moderate Democrats, especially Sens. The race went to a runoff after neither Warnock nor Walker won more than 50% of the vote in the Nov. [Donald Trump](https://www.cnbc.com/donald-trump/), who had championed Walker and campaigned for him. Less than two weeks before the midterms, [a second woman came forward](https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/26/herschel-walker-woman-makes-new-abortion-claim.html) to claim Walker had pushed her to get an abortion. "The Truth: Trump called my dad for months DEMANDING that he run," Christian tweeted Tuesday night. While Warnock got more votes than Walker, third-party candidate Chase Oliver, a Libertarian, secured just over 2% of the vote, keeping either of the two main contenders from clinching a majority, according to NBC News' count. "Everyone with a brain begged him: 'PLEASE DON'T DO THIS. "I'm not going to make any excuses because we put up one heck of a fight," Walker said. Walker gave what was essentially a concession speech to a crowd at his election watch party around 11 p.m.

The Democratic Senator and pastor beat out the Trump-backed former football star, allowing Democrats to add to their slim majority in the Senate.

He has also [admitted](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/herschel-walker-domestic-violence-therapy-b1975964.html) to a history of domestic violence, appears to have attempted to keep several of his children a secret from the public ( [and even his own campaign](https://www.thedailybeast.com/herschel-walker-lied-about-his-secret-kids-to-his-own-campaign)), and, while campaigning in Georgia, claimed a [tax credit in Texas for people who primarily live there](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/11/herschel-walker-tax-benefits-texas). Warnock’s ad spend represented just a fraction of his total war chest, which [topped](https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/meetthepressblog/runoff-watch-warnock-doubles-walkers-fundraising-haul-rcna58925) $50 million between October 20 to November 16, as compared to Walker’s $20.9 million over that same period. [slight edge](https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/02/politics/cnn-poll-georgia-senate-runoff-election/index.html) in the numbers. His own campaign staff anonymously told the Daily Beast [that Walker is a “pathological liar](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/07/herschel-walker-secret-children-pathological-liar-georgia-senate).” He's [lied](https://www.newsweek.com/herschel-walker-fbi-agent-police-false-claim-lie-1715498) about multiple parts of his resume, including his education record, falsely claiming to have been an FBI agent and a police officer, and owning [businesses that don’t exist](https://www.thedailybeast.com/herschel-walker-claims-to-own-companies-that-dont-exist). Leading up to the rematch, the Washington Post reported that Georgia saw a record-breaking wave of [early voting](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/11/26/georgia-senate-runoff-saturday-voting/). [outlandish rhetoric](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/11/herschel-walkeer-vampires-werewolves). Over 1.85 million residents had [voted](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2022-election/georgia-senate-runoff-smashes-early-voting-records-attracts-new-voters-rcna59981) early as of Monday. Walker's loss is the bitter culmination of a campaign that has been dogged by scandal—most notably allegations from was a member, Warnock was first elected in a 2021 runoff to serve out the remainder of Johnny Isakson's term, making Tuesday his fourth Senate election in just two years. Still, Warnock's victory is a sign that Democrats have made tremendous electoral gains in Georgia, a state that voted for Biden two years ago but reelected its Republican governor, Brian Kemp, in November. Democrats had already secured control of the Senate leading into Tuesday's runoff, but Warnock’s win gives them a slightly stronger edge as the party will be forced to reckon with a Republican House majority. Still, Warnock proved to have a

Win or lose, all the criticisms of Herschel Walker obscure a larger point: The Republicans have acclimated the American public to ghastly behavior from ...

[posted a thread](https://twitter.com/TSting18/status/1589221942124744705) of 50 great films from the 1980s. (Years later, in [Joker](https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/robert-de-niro-connection-between-joker-and-the-king-of-comedy/), De Niro would himself play a TV host who is stalked by a fame seeker, but The King of Comedy doesn’t need Joker’s gore to make us cringe.) Then try [Outland](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082869/), which is basically High Noon set in space. [The King of Comedy](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085794/), in which Robert De Niro plays a fame-obsessed nerd whose only goal is to be on a talk show. And I was particularly glad to see the inclusion of [Streets of Fire](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088194/), a sort of live-action graphic novel from the director of The Warriors that billed itself as “a rock & roll fable” about a hero saving his girl from a gang of bikers. When investigators finally found the corpse of the 175-pound male, nicknamed Pablo Eskobear, all that was left were “bones and a big hide” and three to four grams of cocaine in his bloodstream—an unseemly end for an otherwise honorable creature that was merely trawling his neighborhood for a snack (as bears do!). [crazy, unelectable candidates](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/to-defeat-trump-stop-calling-him-a-loser/2022/11/26/712e5c96-6d93-11ed-8619-0b92f0565592_story.html).” Perhaps from there, the GOP can start fusing electability back to character, but that process will take a while. [Play our daily crossword.](https://www.theatlantic.com/free-daily-crossword-puzzle/) The only thing worse than making a mistake is admitting it was a mistake, and facing the humiliation of being a sucker. And, as my friend [Jill Lawrence](https://www.thebulwark.com/hypocrisy-thy-name-is-gop/) pointed out today, supporting an [allegedly abusive](https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/feature/senate-runoff-nears-herschel-walkers-ex-girlfriend-details-abuse-rcna60050) rake like Walker makes a mockery of Republicans who once extolled virtue and character as the most important qualities in a public servant. Are you really going to let the commies and immigrants from the [“shithole countries”](https://apnews.com/article/immigration-north-america-donald-trump-ap-top-news-international-news-fdda2ff0b877416c8ae1c1a77a3cc425) take over? Trump ran, and still runs, as something of a dare, a challenge to see if we’re just a bunch of delicate scolds who get the vapors over things like Win or lose, all the criticisms of Herschel Walker obscure a larger point: The Republicans have acclimated the American public to ghastly behavior from elected officials and candidates for high office.

The Senate race in Georgia went to a runoff after neither candidate won more than 50% of the vote in the November midterm election.

[she too had had an abortion at his urging](https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/davidmack/herschel-walker-abortion-second-woman) when they were in a relationship in the 1990s. [worried some Republican allies](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/30/us/politics/georgia-senate-herschel-walker-raphael-warnock.html), with the candidate choosing to take five days off for Thanksgiving despite the close race and [Warnock’s serious fundraising advantage](https://www.ajc.com/politics/warnock-more-than-doubles-walker-fundraising-in-pre-runoff-period/YQJQWOJFKBBO5NZU2HCID2XFLU/). Lee](https://www.cnn.com/2015/08/09/us/georgia-confederate-memorial-holiday-feat). [critic of fatherless Black homes](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpUmpj4oyjI&t=1670s), had a second son whom he had not publicly acknowledged and whose mother had sued the candidate for child support. [record-breaking turnout](https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/29/georgia-senate-runoff-heats-up-in-early-voting-after-record-breaking-day.html) among early voters in the state. [President Joe Biden’s win](https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/emmanuelfelton/georgia-vote-results-biden-win) in 2020. He decided to give us the middle finger and air out all of his dirty laundry in public while simultaneously lying about it," Christian tweeted. “I want control of the Senate.” But despite both being Republicans, Kemp and Walker were not exactly peas in a pod. The 2021 election made Warnock the first Black senator elected to represent Georgia, and now, he's the first to do so for a full term. With more than 3.9 million ballots cast, less than 40,000 votes separated the pair in November. When the ballots were counted,

Former Heisman Trophy-winning running back Herschel Walker lost to Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock in a crucial Georgia runoff election Tuesday.

He has never denied those specifics and wrote of his violent tendencies in a 2008 memoir that attributed the behavior to mental illness. He was also forced to acknowledge during the campaign that he had fathered three children out of wedlock whom he had never before spoken about publicly. He led them to an undefeated record and national championship in 1980, and in 1982, he won the Heisman as the nation's top player.

Herschel Walker could be basking in his former athletic glory, but he came into the orbit of that serial destroyer of other people's reputations, ...

Did uncontested races cost the Democrats the House popular vote?December 5, 2022 Did uncontested races cost the Democrats the House popular vote?December 5, 2022Opinion Republicans, you can do better than Herschel Walker.

May 24, 2022: Walker wins the Republican primary by more than 50 points, earning the right to run against Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock in fall. May 26, ...

(This does not in and of itself disqualify him from serving.) Democrats net a seat in the Senate. 6, 2022: Walker loses the run-off to Warnock. (He denies it, but the evidence that he did so is substantial.) Oz” Oz loses an open seat in Pennsylvania to Democrat John Fetterman. (He denies it.) 8, 2022: On election night, Walker and Warnock advance to a runoff when neither receives 50 percent of the vote. Meanwhile, another Trump-endorsed GOP Senate candidate about whom Mitch McConnell had concerns, Blake Masters, runs behind other Republicans in Arizona and loses his race against Sen. Trump-endorsed Pennsylvania candidate Mehmet “Dr. Warnock comes closer, winning 49.4 of ballots cast to Walker’s 48.5. (According to Morning Consult, Joe Biden’s approval rating in Georgia in the months before voting was roughly On the other hand, the good news is, he’s made several impressive performances on national television.”

Walker's ignorance is part of the point for Republicans. “Herschel Walker was not nominated to govern,” George Chidi wrote for Rolling Stone last month. “He was ...

[turned on his father](https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/christian-walker-unloads-herschel-walker-abortion-payment-report-1234604806/) after it was revealed that he paid for an ex-girlfriend’s abortion. He admitted to having [more secret children](https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/herschel-walker-admits-another-son-1369257/) a few weeks later. [has a secret son he doesn’t see](https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/herschel-walker-secret-son-report-1368573/). The Daily Beast reported a few weeks after that that [he’d been lying to his campaign](https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/herschel-walker-secret-children-1379098/) about his offspring. She told The Daily Beast that Walker “cannot” be a senator. The Daily Beast reported last month that Walker also [lied about owning the nation’s largest upholstery business](https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/herschel-walker-business-record-1336941/). CNN points to stories from the time about Walker saying he maintained a B average at UGA, and that he had a 3.0 GPA before his grades began to suffer. The woman [had a child with Walker](https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/herschel-walker-abortion-payment-mother-of-his-child-1234606268/), as well. [pressured her into getting another abortion](https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/herschel-walker-asked-ex-to-have-second-abortion-1234607559/) in 2011. The company listed just eight employees when it applied for a Covid loan in 2020, and Walker admitted in a court case that the company brings in less than $2 million a year. “Do you know right now, I have something that [you can bring] into a building, that will clean you of Covid, as you walk through this dry mist?” he told Glenn Beck in the summer of 2020. He seemed perplexed about the theory of evolution during an appearance at a church in March.

Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock defeated Republican challenger Herschel Walker in a Georgia runoff election Tuesday, ensuring Democrats an outright majority ...

Bypassing the president, Warnock decided instead to campaign with former President Barack Obama in the days before the runoff election. He has never denied those specifics and wrote of his violent tendencies in a 2008 memoir that attributed the behaviour to mental illness. Warnock promoted his Senate accomplishments, touting a provision he sponsored to cap insulin costs for Medicare patients. National Democrats celebrated Tuesday, with Biden tweeting a photo of his congratulatory phone call to the senator. Walker, meanwhile, sought to portray Warnock as a yes-man for Biden. “There’s no excuses in life, and I’m not going to make any excuses now because we put up one heck of a fight.” “I often say that a vote is a kind of prayer for the world we desire for ourselves and for our children,” declared Warnock, a Baptist pastor and his state's first Black senator. Voters returned Warnock to the Senate in the same cycle they reelected Republican Gov. Raphael Warnock defeated Republican challenger Herschel Walker in a Georgia runoff election Tuesday, ensuring Democrats an outright majority in the Senate for the rest of U.S. In last month’s election, Warnock led Walker by 37,000 votes out of almost 4 million cast, but fell short of the 50 per cent threshold needed to avoid a runoff. About 1.9 million runoff votes were cast in Georgia by mail and during early voting. President Joe Biden’s current term and capping an underwhelming midterm cycle for the GOP in the last major vote of the year.

Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock defeated Republican challenger Herschel Walker in a Georgia runoff election Tuesday, ensuring Democrats an outright majority ...

Raphael Warnock wins Georgia runoff against Herschel Walker](https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/democrat-sen-raphael-warnock-wins-georgia-runoff-against-herschel-walker-1.6184050) President Joe Biden's term and helping cap an underwhelming midterm cycle for the GOP in the last major vote of the year. People gathered on a wet and gloomy Tuesday to commemorate the 14 women killed during the Ecole Polytechnique shooting 33 years ago. Bypassing the president, Warnock decided instead to campaign with former President Barack Obama in the days before the runoff election. He has never denied those specifics and wrote of his violent tendencies in a 2008 memoir that attributed the behaviour to mental illness. National Democrats celebrated Tuesday, with Biden tweeting a photo of his congratulatory phone call to the senator. Voters returned Warnock to the Senate in the same cycle they reelected Republican Gov. “There’s no excuses in life, and I’m not going to make any excuses now because we put up one heck of a fight.” In last month’s election, Warnock led Walker by 37,000 votes out of almost 4 million cast, but fell short of the 50 per cent threshold needed to avoid a runoff. “I often say that a vote is a kind of prayer for the world we desire for ourselves and for our children,” declared Warnock, a Baptist pastor and his state's first Black senator. President Joe Biden’s current term and capping an underwhelming midterm cycle for the GOP in the last major vote of the year. Raphael Warnock defeated Republican challenger Herschel Walker in a Georgia runoff election Tuesday, ensuring Democrats an outright majority in the Senate for the rest of U.S.

Herschel Walker was a horrific candidate, but the Trump brand has also begun to sour in Georgia.

The best that could be hoped for was a Black person who was willing to fall in line and vote with the party. But he was friendly with them even as he was hostile to other Black and Brown people. Yes, Walker was a historically horrific candidate, but the Trump brand has also begun to sour in Georgia. In their construction of things, deficiency was endemic to Blackness and ubiquitous among Black people. This is in no way to excuse the Georgia Republicans who went along with the Walker charade, even after seeing up close that he was not only unqualified to be a senator, but likely incapable of performing the duties. This is why Trump could argue that he was not racist — he could always say he had known and been friendly with so many Black entertainers. It didn’t matter that Walker was not a political figure or even a politically engaged person. To him, celebrities were a class onto themselves, people who could transcend race and wealth, crossing over into the golden plane of the hero. It didn’t even matter that he didn’t live in Georgia. Trump learned early the lucrative industry of dream selling. Unlike high society, which thrived on exclusion, entertainment fed on the possibility of inclusion and economic ascendance. As Walker said in an interview years ago, “I’ve known Donald before he became ‘The Donald.’ I started out with Donald Trump.