Former football star Herschel Walker has raised millions of dollars in the weeks following the launch of his 2022 Senate campaign in Georgia.
Walker’s campaign announced Monday that the Republican candidate has raked in $3.7 million in 37 days—approximately $100,000 per day—from tens of thousands of donors from all states.
“We are overwhelmed by the support from nearly 50,000 Americans who love this country and want to help our campaign,” Walker said in a statement. “Though we only had 5 weeks to fundraise this quarter, tens of thousands of Georgians and patriots across the country stepped up to the plate to help us take back the United States Senate.”
Walker, 59, officially announced he was running for Congress in late August. He’s one of five GOP candidates aiming to challenge Democrat Raphael Warnock, who narrowly ousted former senator Kelly Loeffler in a runoff election this past January.
As of July 15, Warnock had raised more than $7 million toward his re-election campaign. Republican candidate Latham Saddler, an Atlanta banking executive and former Navy SEAL officer, reported this summer he’d raised $1.4 million in the first 10 weeks of his campaign.
Former President Donald Trump threw his support behind Walker months before he entered the race. In a statement in March, Trump said Walker would be “unstoppable, just like he was when he played for the Georgia Bulldogs, and in the NFL.”
Days after Walker’s campaign announcement, Trump issued an official endorsement.
“He embodies ‘America First’ and the winning spirit of Georgia. Herschel is tough on Crime and Borders, and he will always stand in support of Law Enforcement, Military, and our Vets,” Trump said in a statement issued through his Save America PAC.
Walker’s relationship with the former president goes back to his days playing for the Trump-owned New Jersey Generals of the United States Football League in the 1980s. Walker was also a contestant on season two of Celebrity Apprentice.
Walker has echoed Trump’s baseless claims that the 2020 election was riddled with fraud. Walker’s wife, Julie Blanchard, is under investigation by Georgia’s secretary of state after a report that she voted in Georgia last year despite living in Texas.
Trump and Walker appeared together at a “Save America” rally in Georgia last month. Trump called Walker an “American legend born and raised in this state.”
Walker discussed his relationship with Trump, stating that he told a reporter back when he was playing for the New Jersey Generals that “this guy can be president of the United States one day.”
“Let me tell you the reason why I said that, because he loved his country,” Walker said.
