Former NFL star Herschel Walker is a Trump-backed Republican working for the Senate in Georgia.
His marketing campaign focuses on household values, opposes abortion and is crucial of absent fathers.
He has been described as “a hypocrite” for a few of his views that are stated to contradict occasions in his private life.
So who’s Herschel Walker?
Born in Augusta, Georgia, in 1962, Mr Walker is one in every of seven youngsters.
The 60-year-old is a former American soccer working again who grew to become a family title over his appearances within the NFL.
Mr Walker was probably the most sought-after faculty gamers within the nation and have become a soccer star with the University of Georgia within the early Eighties.
In 1983, he signed for the New Jersey Generals within the USFL – a workforce which might later be owned by Donald Trump.
He moved to the NFL in 1986 and constructed a profession which noticed him symbolize Dallas Cowboys, Minnesota Vikings, Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants. He retired in 1997.
He has beforehand talked about his battle with psychological sickness, writing in his 2008 guide, Breaking Free, about being identified with dissociative identification dysfunction, as soon as often known as a number of persona dysfunction.
He wrote about his 2001 prognosis and dealing with as many as a dozen personalities he had developed as a part of a defence towards bullying when he was a toddler.
Abortion views and kids
Mr Walker describes abortions as a “woman killing her baby”.
He has stated he’s pro-life and in August stated he opposes terminating a being pregnant even in instances of rape or incest.
He has additionally opposed abortions which can be advisable by medical doctors to guard the well being or lifetime of the mom.
However, he has since revised this to say he helps Georgia’s present standing of a six-week ban with exceptions.
Earlier this yr, Mr Walker acknowledged experiences that he had three youngsters he had not publicly acknowledged – although he later stated he had by no means denied they had been his.
Claims of Walker placing strain on ladies to have abortions
Two ladies have come ahead to assert Mr Walker obtained them pregnant after which put strain on them to terminate the being pregnant.
At the tip of October 2022, the second girl stated he paid for her to have an abortion after a six-year affair with him.
Mr Walker had already denied allegations from the primary girl that he paid for her to have an abortion in 2009 – and that she later gave beginning to one in every of his youngsters.
The first to come back ahead offered supporting paperwork to the Daily Beast, an internet media outlet.
She stated her allegations had been supported by a receipt exhibiting her $575 cost for the process, together with a get-well card from Mr Walker.
The Daily Beast reported her financial institution deposit information confirmed the picture of a $700 private cheque from Mr Walker dated 5 days after the abortion receipt.
“I’m done with this foolishness. I’ve already told people this is a lie,” stated Mr Walker.
In a press release posted on Twitter, he stated he would file a lawsuit towards the information outlet.
The girl making the brand new declare spoke by cellphone to a information convention organised by legal professional Gloria Allred in Los Angeles.
She stated: “Herschel Walker is a hypocrite, and he is not fit to be a US senator.
“We do not want folks within the Senate who profess one factor and do one other. Herschel Walker says he’s towards ladies having abortions. But he pressured me to have one.”
Ms Allred stated the girl had years of paperwork, together with receipts and greeting playing cards, documenting her romantic relationship with Mr Walker from the late Eighties via the Nineties. She confirmed a few of these on the information convention.
The girl instructed reporters she grew to become pregnant in April 1993. The former NFL soccer star inspired her to have an abortion and gave her the cash to pay for one, she stated.
She added she went to a Dallas clinic meaning to have an abortion, however determined towards it and left.
She claimed Mr Walker talked her into going ahead with the process and drove her to the clinic the subsequent day, the place she went forward with the abortion.
“He pressured me to have an abortion and personally ensured it occurred by driving me to the clinic and paying for it,” the girl stated in a voice heavy with emotion.
Republicans have claimed the allegations towards Mr Walker is a “smear” marketing campaign.
The Associated Press information company reported {that a} overview of public information detailed accusations that Mr Walker repeatedly threatened his ex-wife’s life, exaggerated claims of economic success and alarmed enterprise associates with unpredictable behaviour.
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Why is the Georgia race so pivotal within the midterms?
Mr Walker is aiming to unseat Georgia’s Democratic incumbent senator Raphael Warnock within the election.
The outcomes might see which celebration controls the Senate.
The Senate is presently break up 50-50 – however Democrats have management as a result of the vice-president may be requested to forged tie-breaking votes.
There are 35 Senate elections which might see the higher chamber change arms, however there are only a handful that are seen as being tight contests.
One of these is the Georgia race being contested by Mr Walker, who has been endorsed by his pal and former US president Donald Trump.
Almost 300 candidates have been endorsed by Mr Trump – 200 of them have repeated his anti-democratic lie that he gained the final election or its outcomes had been significantly flawed.
Democratic opponent Mr Warnock serves as pastor on the Atlanta church as soon as led by Martin Luther King Jr and backs entry to abortion and different reproductive healthcare.
Source: information.sky.com”