WASHINGTON (AP) – Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday endorsed Herschel Walker for the Senate in Georgia, lending the clout of the highest-ranking elected GOP official in the country to the candidacy of a former football star whose turbulent personal history could create problems for his general election campaign.
Walker is the odds-on favorite to win the Republican primary next May and at an initial glance seems to have a coveted political profile as he seeks the chance to unseat Democrat Raphael Warnock, the state’s first Black senator, and help the GOP regain control of the Senate.
Walker was a football hero at the University of Georgia before a long NFL career. He’s a business owner whose chicken products are widely distributed. And he’s a Black conservative with backing from former President Donald Trump, a longtime friend who repeatedly urged Walker to run.
But he also has a lengthy history of mental health struggles, much of which Walker detailed in his autobiography. An investigation by The Associated Press in July revealed accusations that Walker repeatedly threatened his ex-wife’s life, exaggerated claims of financial success and alarmed business associates with unpredictable behavior.
McConnell, R-Ky., was initially cool to a Walker candidacy. But by endorsing him now, McConnell can sidestep what could have been a messy intraparty fight with Trump that might have complicated the quest to retake a Senate majority.