Republican Herschel Walker is not picking sides in former President Donald Trump’s effort to oust Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp in the party’s gubernatorial primary, according to a spokeswoman for the leading 2022 Senate contender.
“Herschel is focused on his senate campaign and is not getting involved in any other races this cycle,” Walker’s campaign spokeswoman Mallory Blount told the Washington Examiner Tuesday in a text message.
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Questions of Walker’s loyalties were raised this week when Vernon Jones, who is challenging Kemp in next year’s GOP primary, tweeted a photograph with himself and Walker and the comments: “It’s going to be a fight to #TakeGeorgiaBack Who better an ally than @HerschelWalker? We’re going to take it to the RINOs in 2022, and we’re going to take down those Liberals as well!”
A Republican close to Walker was having dinner with his wife at a restaurant in Buckhead, an Atlanta neighborhood, when the two of them ran into Jones. The former state legislator and ex-Democrat asked Walker to pose for a picture, and he obliged.
It’s going to be a fight to #TakeGeorgiaBack
Who better an ally than @HerschelWalker?
We’re going to take it to the RINOs in 2022, and we’re going to take down those Liberals as well! pic.twitter.com/RXSqDnBV7x
— Vernon Jones For Governor (@RepVernonJones) August 31, 2021
Walker is Trump’s longtime personal friend and a close political ally of the former president, not to mention his preferred candidate in a GOP Georgia Senate primary that includes state Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black. Because of those ties, Republican insiders in Georgia have wondered if Walker, a former professional athlete and a wealthy businessman, would join Trump in opposing Kemp’s renomination.
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The statement from Blount would suggest that, at least for now, Walker is bucking Trump and has no plans to oppose Kemp in next June’s primary. Walker announced his campaign last week but has yet to hold a public event.
Trump lost Georgia to President Joe Biden last November, becoming the first Republican presidential nominee to come up short in the Peach State since 1992. He blames Kemp, claiming the election was stolen and that the governor allowed it to happen.
