GOP Report Criticizes Hershel Walker for Unspent Campaign Funds

Herschel Walker, the ex-Republican Georgia Senate candidate in 2022, is sitting on millions of dollars in unspent campaign funds — irking Peach State Republicans who say Walker should dish out cash to help the GOP win this November.

Walker, who lost in the Georgia runoff election to Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA), reported in an April Federal Election Commission filing having more than $4 million in cash on hand at the end of March. The former NFL running back had more than $5 million in the bank at the close of his failed 2022 Senate bid, according to financial disclosures.

To Republicans, that $4 million could be put to good use ahead of the 2024 election to boost former President Donald Trump and perhaps lend a hand to lawmakers running in Georgia, a key battleground state. President Joe Biden narrowly beat Trump in Georgia in 2020.

“Those resources were solicited and given to support his candidacy as a Georgia Republican, and unless he intends to use them again for his own candidacy, I sure hope the favor would be returned,” John Watson, ex-chairman of the Georgia GOP, told Politico. “Georgia Republicans should be supported by those dollars in whatever legal fashion the campaign can.”

Walker, who recently reenrolled at the University of Georgia for his undergraduate degree, denied the $4 million is still sitting in his campaign account.

“It wasn’t money left in my account. Everyone keeps saying that,” Walker said. One Republican strategist in Georgia said it’s clear the $4 million should be delivered to GOP committees, used to boost Trump, or refunded to donors.

“Republicans are being outspent everywhere up and down the ballot, and there’s a significant sum of resources just sitting there,” the strategist told Politico. “It could be supporting Trump, who did a ton for Herschel’s campaign.”

The vast majority of Walker’s campaign funds have remained in his account after losing, minus $100,000 he transferred to the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s legal recount fund and roughly $400,000 he transferred to nonprofit groups — such as the Boys and Girls Club and the Horatio Alger Association. Walker also moved funds from his campaign to Polaris Action, a group focused on national security founded by ex-Trump State Department official Morgan Ortagus.

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Walker’s top donors for the runoff election included the Senate Conservatives Fund, the Club for Growth, the Republican Jewish Coalition, and others.

“I would give directly to candidates at the legislature level because to maintain the majorities in Georgia, we’re really having to fight here,” said Brian Robinson, a GOP strategist in Georgia.