Walker Starts With $3.7M, Trump's Support

Fundraising starts strong in Georgia Senate race despite candidate's few appearances
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 11, 2021 5:03 PM CDT
Walker Starts With $3.7M, Trump's Support
Former President Donald Trump hugs Senate candidate Herschel Walker at a rally in Perry, Georgia, in September.   (AP Photo/Ben Gray)

Herschel Walker's campaign said Monday that contributions have come in from all 50 states in the first five weeks of his Georgia Senate campaign. Donations totaled $3.7 million, from almost 50,000 supporters, the Republican reported. That puts him ahead of the other GOP candidates looking to replace Democratic US Sen. Raphael Warnock, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. And it indicates the former football star will have money for the campaign, in addition to name recognition and the enthusiastic endorsement of former President Donald Trump.

The other three Republican candidates—Latham Saddler, Gary Black, and Kelvin King—haven't filed their fundraising totals for the third quarter, per CBS. But their past reports show that they're not in the same financial neighborhood. Warnock, who won a runoff to serve the last two years of an unfinished term in January, hasn't reported, either. But as of July, his campaign account had more than $10.5 million, and he'd reported a take of $7.2 million in the April-to-June quarter.

Georgia Republicans and donors had been waiting to see if Walker entered the race, both to choose a candidate to back and to decide whether to run themselves. His fundraising shows they've made their decisions, per the Hill; potential candidates have either endorsed Walker or said they won't run after all. In the first few weeks of his campaign, Walker has sidestepped hot issues, mostly talking in his few appearances about the need to work across party lines. Cook Political Report lists the Georgia Senate race as "lean Democrat." (Republicans have concerns about a Walker candidacy.)

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