Credit: Natrice Miller / Natrice.Miller@ajc.com
Credit: Natrice Miller / Natrice.Miller@ajc.com
Senate hopeful Herschel Walker cast his ballot for himself Tuesday, but he wouldn’t say whether he backed Gov. Brian Kemp or former U.S. Sen. David Perdue in the bitter Republican race for Georgia’s top job.
The Republican Senate frontrunner said in February he wouldn’t support either of the rivals and was “mad at both of them.” On Tuesday, he offered a different approach to the feud that pits Perdue’s Donald Trump-backed challenge against Kemp.
“I’m going to wait and see who wins. Whoever wins, I’m going to get behind him,” he said after casting his ballot at Sutton Middle School. “And I hope the guy that loses gets behind him as well. I said it when I first got in this race, we have to come together as a party.”
He said he has “no doubt” he’d be able to work with Kemp or Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, both top targets of Trump, who blames them for his 2020 election defeat. Walker was endorsed by Trump shortly after he got in the race.
“There are some bad grapes on both sides, but I respect President Trump a great deal and always will. He’s a good, good friend. He got behind me because he knew I’d get the job done. But at the same time, he doesn’t run what I do in my decisions.”
Pressed on whether he’d want to campaign with Trump in a general election against Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, Walker was blunt.
“If he wants to come down, I told him he and his family could come down,” he said. “President Trump has been more than just a friend. I’ve known him since 1982. I want him to come down. I want all Republicans to come down and campaign for me, because we’ve got to bring this party together.”
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