WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� 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 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鈥檚 a business owner whose chicken products are widely distributed. And he鈥檚 a Black conservative with backing from , 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鈥檚 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.
鈥淚 am happy to endorse Herschel Walker for U.S. Senate in Georgia," McConnell said in a statement. "Herschel is the only one who can unite the party, defeat Senator Warnock, and help us take back the Senate. I look forward to working with Herschel in Washington to get the job done.鈥�
Walker was effusive in his own statement, praising McConnell's "commitment to bringing the party together toward the collective goal of defeating Senator Warnock.鈥�
"The Democrats have already said they will spend whatever it takes to keep Georgia blue," Walker said. "The stakes have never been higher 鈥� if we all work together, we will win next November, and take back the Senate. Team Herschel is very thankful for Senator McConnell鈥檚 support.鈥�
The 2022 Senate race is shaping up as one of the most heavily contested races of the election cycle. Georgia, long solid GOP territory, became a top battleground after Democrat Joe Biden carried it last year in the presidential election in November. Democrats then took both Senate seats in run-off elections in January.
Warnock won a special election to fill out the remainder of the term of Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson, who retired, and will have to run in 2022 for a six-year term.
A number of Republicans quickly lined up to enter the primary. But Walker, who cryptically teased a candidacy for months, effectively froze the field because of his close affiliation with Trump.
Walker launched his campaign in late August and is one of a handful of Trump-backed candidates who have raised GOP worries because they received minimal screening before earning the former president's endorsement.
Walker disclosed his mental illness in a 2008 book, 鈥淏reaking Free,鈥� detailing a diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder. In that account, Walker told of as many as a dozen personalities 鈥� or 鈥渁lters鈥� 鈥� that he had constructed as a defense mechanism against the bullying he said he endured as a stuttering, overweight child.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness describes the disorder as 鈥渁lternating between multiple identities,鈥� leaving a person with 鈥済aps in memory of every day events.鈥� It notes men with the disorder often 鈥渆xhibit more violent behavior rather than amnesia.鈥�
In his book, Walker acknowledged violent urges. He wrote that he played Russian roulette and recalled sitting at his kitchen table in 1991 pointing a gun, loaded with a single bullet, at his head. 鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 suicidal,鈥� Walker explained, but 鈥渏ust looked at mortality as the ultimate challenge.鈥�
Walker pitched a turnaround story, saying he decided in 2001 that 鈥渋t was time to stop running and face some harsh realities.鈥� He cited therapy and his Christian faith as influences.
His watershed moment: driving his car to confront a man who had 鈥渕essed up my schedule鈥� and thinking about what it would be like to shoot the man. Walker changed course, he wrote, after seeing a bumper sticker with the message 鈥淪MILE. JESUS LOVES YOU.鈥�
Yet Walker鈥檚 violent behavior continued well after the 2001 revelation and his efforts to get help, according to court records obtained by the AP.
Walker鈥檚 ex-wife, Cindy Grossman, noted his outbursts in their divorce proceedings, telling of 鈥減hysically abusive and threatening behavior.鈥� In 2005, four years after she had sued for divorce, Grossman returned to the court for a protective order after Walker repeatedly voiced a desire and an intent to kill her and her boyfriend.
According to an affidavit from Grossman鈥檚 sister, Maria Tsettos, Walker called looking for his ex-wife while she was out with her new boyfriend. Tsettos took the call and said Walker became 鈥渧ery threatening鈥� when told of Grossman鈥檚 whereabouts. In Tsettos鈥� recollection, Walker 鈥渟tated unequivocally that he was going to shoot my sister Cindy and her boyfriend in the head.鈥�
Walker contacted Tsettos another time and repeated the threats in graphic terms, and, according to Grossman鈥檚 account to the court, Walker confronted her in public later that day: He 鈥渟lowly drove by in his vehicle, pointed his finger at (her) and traced (her) with his finger as he drove.鈥�
In granting a protective order against Walker, a Texas judge stripped Walker鈥檚 rights to possess a firearm for a time.
Concerns about Walker鈥檚 behavior carried into his chicken business, now known as Renaissance Man Food Services, according to court filings.
Walker has said his company employed hundreds of people, included chicken processing plants in Arkansas and grossed $70 million to $80 million annually in sales. Yet when Walker applied for the federal Paycheck Protection Program last year, his company reported just eight employees, receiving $182,000 in aid.
In a recent court case, Walker indicated the company averaged about $1.5 million in yearly profit from 2008 to 2017. Meanwhile, Walker鈥檚 business associates testified in the same case that he does not own chicken processing plants, as he claims. Instead, they described him as a licensing partner who lends his name to the enterprise.
Records generated in a 2018 wrongful termination suit 鈥� the employee ultimately lost 鈥� depict Walker as a temperamental and unreliable partner.
Walker's primary rivals pledged to forge on, despite McConnell's endorsement.
鈥淲e鈥檙e in this race to win it, we鈥檙e Georgia鈥檚 candidate (not the Swamp鈥檚),鈥� said Georgia's agriculture commissioner Gary Black, who compared his campaign to the Atlanta Braves' unexpected World Series run. 鈥淥ur mindset today is the same as the #Braves: Kill the narrative.鈥�
Brian Slodysko, The Associated Press
