(The Hill) — Georgia GOP Senate candidate Hershel Walker fired back on Wednesday at former President Barack Obama who said being a good football player does not make him qualified to be a lawmaker.
Walker, a former NFL running back, told Fox and Friends’ Brian Kilmeade that he’s never met Obama but if he had, it meant he was a celebrity “because all he did was hang out with celebrities.”
“He forgot to tell people I created one of the largest minority-owned food service companies in the United States of America, so I do sign the front of a check, which he’s probably never done except when he was in the White House,” Walker said.
“I created businesses, I sit on a public traded board. So those are things I’ve done outside of football. Put my resume against his resume – I put it up any time of the day and I think I’ve done well,” Walker added.
Obama at a Georgia rally on Friday said during a campaign stop for Walker’s opponent, Sen. Raphael Warnock (D), that while Walker had a commendable football career, that doesn’t translate into success in Congress.
“Some of you may not remember, but Herschel Walker was a heck of a football player,” Obama said. “But here’s the question: Does that make him the best person to represent you in the U.S. Senate? Does that make him equipped to weigh in on the critical decisions about our economy and our foreign policy and our future?”
Kilmeade also asked Walker about how he is handling a spate of recent controversies surrounding his campaign, including reports that the Republican nominee paid for several abortions of ex-partners but maintained a staunch pro-life position on the campaign trail.
“I keep going forward,” Walker told Kilmeade. “Right now, they’re going to try to throw everything at me. They spent almost $100 million so far against me. Right now, the race is virtually tied or I’m in the lead which shows that they don’t know how to spend their own money, so quit spending our money.”
Reports have also surfaced that Walker was the father of children who were not previously disclosed. Despite the controversies, he and Warnock are running in one of the tightest races in the country.
A new Atlanta Journal-Constitution/UGA published on Monday found that Warnock and Walker are statistically tied at 45 percent.
The Georgia Senate race is one of a handful that could determine who controls the upper chamber next year. If no clear winner is decided next week, the election will head to a runoff – which is how Warnock won the seat in 2020.
