God, Not Trump, Inspired Herschel Walker to Run for Office, NFL Star Says

NEWSWEEK

BY AILA SLISCO ON 5/31/22 AT 6:46 PM EDT

Former NFL star Hershel Walker, the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate election in Georgia later this year, has lashed out at former President Donald Trump over "taking credit" for his campaign.

During a recent interview on Revolt TV's Love & Respect With Killer Mike, Walker suggested that his Senate campaign was inspired by God rather than the former president. Walker said that he made the decision to launch his campaign after a period of prayer, adding that he was "mad" at Trump for saying that the decision came after he had "asked" him to run.

"One thing that people don't know is President Trump never asked me," Walker said during the interview, which was shared online Tuesday. "And I need to tell him that he never asked. You know, I heard it all on television that he's going to ask Herschel, saying Herschel is going to run."

"I'm mad at him because he never asked but he's taking credit that he asked," he continued. "Before all this started coming about, my wife and I went with Pastor Tony Evans at Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship and we went into prayer. We went into prayer and I prayed about it."

Walker went on to say that he was initially praying "that God would bring somebody else" to run for the Republican nomination but he eventually agreed to run himself out of love for "the Lord Jesus." Walker, endorsed by Trump, defeated five other GOP candidates during last week's primary election, having secured nearly 70 percent of the vote.

While Walker insisted that Trump had never directly asked him if he would "run for that Senate seat," the former president did encourage the former NFL star to challenge for the seat more than five months before he officially launched his campaign.

"Wouldn't it be fantastic if the legendary Herschel Walker ran for the United States Senate in Georgia?" Trump said in statement issued on March 10, 2021. "He would be unstoppable, just like he was when he played for the Georgia Bulldogs, and in the NFL. He is also a GREAT person. Run Herschel, run!"

Walker's win last week was a small victory for Trump in Georgia. In contrast, Republican Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, both frequent targets of the former president for refusing to overturn his 2020 loss to President Joe Biden, easily defeated Trump-backed candidates David Perdue and Jody Hice in their primaries.

Polls suggest that Walker, who during an interview with Atlanta's WAGA-TV last week said that he didn't know "whether President Trump said that" the 2020 election was stolen, could be set for a photo finish with incumbent Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock in November's general election. An average of polls from RealClearPolitics shows Walker leading Warnock by 0.5 percent as of Tuesday.