Trump calls on former football star Herschel Walker to run for senator in Georgia

Republicans lost both Senate seats in January, handing control of the upper chamber to the Democrats

US President Donald Trump is greeted by NFL hall of fame member Herschel Walker during an event for black supporters at the Cobb Galleria Centre September 25, 2020, in Atlanta, Georgia (Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

Donald Trump has urged former football star Herschel Walker to run for Senator in Georgia.

The ex-president called on the former University of Georgia and NFL player to enter politics and help Republicans after they lost both Senate seats there in January.

“Wouldn’t it be fantastic if the legendary Herschel Walker ran for the United States Senate in Georgia?” said Mr Trump in his latest statement.

“He would be unstoppable, just like he was when he played for the Georgia Bulldogs, and in the NFL.

“He is also a GREAT person. Run Herschel, run!”

Republicans Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue were both beaten in Senate runoff elections by Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff.

The wins tied both parties at 50 senators but handed the Democrats control of the upper chamber as vice president Kamala Harris breaks all ties.

Mr Warnock won the seat by 2 points and will have to run in 2022 for a full six-year term.

Despite his debunked claims of voter fraud in the state, Mr Trump was also defeated in Georgia by Joe Biden as he flipped it to a Democratic presidential candidate for the first time in 28 years.

Prosecutors in Georgia have now opened criminal investigations into Mr Trump’s “attempts to influence” the election result there.

Mr Trump was recorded on a phone call to Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger, in which he pressured him to “find” enough votes to help him beat Mr Biden.

Walker, who played for a string of NFL teams from 1985 to 1997 is a friend of Mr Trump from his days as a player for the New Jersey Generals of the USFL, which the ex-president owned.

He has not publicly said that he wants to become involved in politics or run for office in Georgia.

But he defended Mr Trump at the 2020 Republican National Convention saying he took it as “a personal insult that people think I would have a 37-year friendship with a racist.”

And he added: “People who think that don’t know what they’re talking about. Growing up in the Deep South I’ve seen racism up close. I know what it is, and it isn’t Donald Trump.”