Herschel Walker Begins Georgia GOP Senate Bid Amid Unknowns

President Donald Trump elbow bumbs with Herschel Walker during a campaign rally, Friday, Sept. 25, 2020, in Atlanta. On Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2021, Walker filed paperwork to enter the U.S. Senate race in Georgia after months of speculation, joining other Republicans seeking to unseat Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock in 2022.

John Bazemore / AP Photo

Herschel Walker embarked Tuesday on a Republican U.S. Senate race in Georgia with some definite advantages — including his football fame and the support of former President Donald Trump — but also with a lot of unknowns in his effort to beat Democrat Sen. Raphael Warnock in 2022.

Will the first-time candidate prove a good politician and fundraiser? What will voters make of his sometimes troubled personal history? Can Walker lure back once-Republican moderates who have fallen away from the party, and peel off some traditionally Democratic African Americans?

Those hurdles could be harder to leap than the defenders the 59-year-old Walker sprinted by on his way to a Heisman Trophy as a University of Georgia running back in 1982.