How Republicans Cast Aside Concerns and Learned to Love Herschel Walker

Herschel Walker, the Republican candidate for Senate, is joined onstage by Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) as he speaks during a campaign rally in Carrollton, Ga., Oct. 13, 2022. (Nicole Craine/The New York Times)

Since Herschel Walker launched his bid for Senate last year, Georgia voters have learned about his ex-wife’s allegations of domestic violence, his multiple children born out of wedlock and, most recently, assertions from a former girlfriend that he paid for one abortion and urged her to end a second pregnancy, while claiming to oppose abortion.

Walker, a former football star and first-time candidate, has denied the latest claim and expressed shock about what he has cast as a stunning partisan broadside. But some Republicans close to him were hardly surprised: They had been discussing the arrival of this moment with the candidate for months.

Walker’s team was braced to defend him against accusations that he threatened his ex-wife, a claim that’s been public for years. But some advisers also knew about the specific abortion claim made by the mother of one of Walker’s children, according to two people familiar with the conversations. Those who knew said they warned Walker to prepare for the possibility that those details would become fodder in a political campaign, but Walker refused.

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The issue mostly frustrated him, these people said. Walker privately denied the abortion, but instead of discussing a strategy to handle the claim, he maintained that the details would never become public. At times he would argue that if his ex-girlfriend’s account did leak out, it would not be believed because he had a child with the woman, according to the two people, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Walker campaign declined to comment.

Now the party is reckoning with the reality of a political gamble Republicans in Georgia and Washington made months ago. In the face of former President Donald Trump’s backing and Walker’s star power, Republican leaders, led by Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the minority leader, deemed resistance to Walker futile.

In a race that could determine control of the Senate, they chose short-term political expediency over confrontation with Trump or his chosen candidate.

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The Georgia Senate race serves as an allegory of Trump-era Republicanism: Old-guard party leaders did not so much lead their voters as follow them; the evangelical wing was quick to compromise; Trump rewrote the conventional rules; and celebrity substituted for experience.

“The most rational-minded folks were wanting to pump the brakes on what felt like a runaway train,” said Geoff Duncan, the Republican lieutenant governor of Georgia, who was referring to Walker’s campaign. “Republicans were perfectly happy winning the first half of the football game, in the primary, and not paying any attention to the second half, which is the general.”

Duncan, a Trump critic, said he wouldn’t vote for Sen. Raphael Warnock, the Democratic incumbent, but was not yet sure if he would support Walker.

The race remains a toss-up; polls show Walker’s support dipping slightly, but in a tight race that could make the difference. Party leaders have stood by him. He continues to evince the brash confidence of a star athlete.

“They don’t realize that they’ve woken a grizzly bear,” Walker told Fox News aboard his campaign bus this week. “I’ve won at everything I’ve set my mind to.”

The Republican has frequently mentioned his mental health issues — he has been diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder, he said. He has not denied the domestic violence allegations and has suggested the disorder is to blame for previous outbursts and erratic behavior. He describes himself as a once-troubled man “saved by grace.” Democrats have said Walker has “a pattern of lying” and is not qualified to serve. The race could turn on which version of Walker voters believe.

“There are always risks with first-time candidates,” said David Shafer, the chair of the Georgia Republican Party. “But potential reward never comes without risk.”

A Personal Connection

From the beginning, Trump wanted Walker in the race. Walker’s hero status in Georgia, where he won the Heisman Trophy and a national championship for the University of Georgia, made him just the sort of celebrity candidate Trump likes to promote. As a Black Republican, he was a step toward diversifying the overwhelmingly white party.

But the draw was hardly just political. The two men have known each other for decades, and — just as he’s done for White House jobs and other political endorsements — Trump let his personal connection override any background checks and other research typically involved in such high-profile job searches.

Walker grew close to Trump when he was a young athlete who had left college early to sign the richest contract in pro football with the New Jersey Generals franchise in the United States Football League in 1983. Trump purchased the team months later.

Walker became something of a surrogate uncle to Trump’s children, who often spent stretches of their summers with him. Eric Trump and his brother, Donald Trump Jr. — whom Walker occasionally calls “Little Donald” — have spoken warmly to associates about trips with Walker to Disney World.

When Walker talks about his connection to Donald Trump, he emphasizes their friendship. “He’s eaten at my home,” Walker said in a May interview with Revolt.TV. “I’ve eaten at his home. My family has eaten at his home.”

Trump was even more effusive when Walker appeared as a contestant on Trump’s reality television program. “I am not a gay man — and I love you,” Trump told Walker when booting him off “Celebrity Apprentice.”

‘The World Is Changing’

As he was preparing to announce his campaign last year, Walker bristled when friends and advisers tried to ask about his past, refusing even in private to take responsibility for his actions, according to Republicans who have been close to Walker. He grew frustrated with direct questions and raised doubts about the loyalty of his own team. One Republican strategist whom Walker spoke with last year said that Walker kept repeating how easy the race was going to be.

Christian Walker, Walker’s son, says he knew his father’s past would be difficult for the family and counseled him not to run, although he did not know about the abortion issue.

“I absolutely tried my best to attempt to get him prepared,” Christian Walker said in an email to The New York Times. “The best way forward was honesty. That clearly didn’t happen.”

Walker had reason to be optimistic about his bid. Internal polling showed that he enjoyed an approval rating of higher than 90% among Georgia Republicans. The combination of his local star power and vocal support of Trump made him virtually untouchable in a Republican primary.

“If your name is Herschel Walker, and you’re a pro-life conservative, with his name ID, celebrity and impressive fundraising ability, the primary was over the day he entered the race,” said Ralph Reed, chair of the Faith & Freedom Coalition and a former state party chair of the Georgia Republican Party.

Trump, too, was unconcerned with Walker’s past. “Twenty years ago would’ve been a bigger problem. I don’t think it’s a problem today,” he said in September 2021, according to “Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America” by Maggie Haberman, a Times reporter.

Asked to explain, the former president — who was recorded bragging about groping women, accused of sexual assault and twice impeached — said, “Because the world is changing.”

A Fleeting Resistance

McConnell, the second most powerful man in Republican politics, had other ideas about who should run.

From the moment two runoff losses in Georgia cost Republicans their Senate majority in January 2021, the state was at the center of McConnell’s plan to wrest back control in 2022. Even before Sen. David Perdue of Georgia had publicly conceded defeat, McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, asked him to consider running again this year, according to a person briefed on the conversation.

But Perdue didn’t entertain the idea for long. In February, he flew to Florida for a visit and a round of golf with Trump. Within days, Perdue announced he would not be running and soon after Trump publicly urged in a statement, “Run Herschel, run!”

McConnell did not take no for an answer.

Over the summer, news stories began to reveal new details about accusations that Walker repeatedly threatened his ex-wife’s life, exaggerated claims of financial success and alarmed business associates with unpredictable behavior. (Notably, McConnell’s longtime political adviser, Josh Holmes, shared on Twitter one Associated Press article, calling it “about as comprehensive a takedown as I’ve ever read. My lord.”)

Days earlier, McConnell met with Perdue at the Capitol, checking if the former senator’s decision not to run was still in effect. It was. Walker officially entered the race in August, and the two men were soon speaking frequently. McConnell grew more comfortable as Walker was solicitous of his advice, according to two people briefed on the calls. Within two months, he had formally endorsed Walker.

In embracing Walker, McConnell accepted a candidate who, from the start, was sure to make the race about the Republican nominee instead of the Democratic one — anathema to his preferred strategy. By the spring of 2022, McConnell was publicly defending Walker’s tumultuous past.

“Almost every candidate has had troubled periods,” McConnell said in an April interview with Axios, when asked about his ex-wife’s allegations of violence. He cut off further questions: “I think Walker is completely electable.”

Others still disagreed. Georgia’s straight-talking agriculture commissioner, Gary Black, got into the primary race a few months before Walker. As momentum for his opponent grew, Black insisted his party was about to cede the advantage.

Walker, he argued, was a political novice with a turbulent history who wouldn’t be able to make the race about the Democrats.

“If Herschel Walker is the nominee,” Black warned in an interview days before the primary, “this race will be about Herschel Walker.”

Black’s team made its case to National Republican Senatorial Committee officials in the fall of 2021, showing a video of Walker’s ex-wife speaking about the time he held a gun to her temple and threatened to shoot. Party officials made them turn it off; the meeting was supposed to be about general election strategy, one official said.

The same clip has been aired repeatedly by Democrats.

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