Walker Starts Political Run with Potential Campaign Finance Violation

Today, 11Alive reported that Trump’s handpicked candidate Herschel Walker’s political campaign is already off to a rocky start, having potentially violated federal election law by “spending money as a political candidate before filing required paperwork declaring his candidacy.” 

Walker is the latest GOP politician to face scrutiny over campaign finance violations in Georgia. Earlier this month, the Savannah Morning News and the Associated Press reported that Walker’s fellow Trump-supporting politician, Buddy Carter, may have violated the same law by spending $5,000 or more running a statewide ad without declaring his now-defunct Senate candidacy in the 15-day window required under federal law. And during the 2020 runoffs, failed former Senator Kelly Loeffler faced an investigation by the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Ethics after she illegally solicited campaign contributions in a TV interview on U.S. Capitol grounds.

A formal complaint has been filed with the FEC requesting a swift investigation into violations by Walker and his campaign in the leadup to his Senate entrance.

Read the latest from 11Alive News:

Complaint: Herschel Walker violated campaign law

Doug Richards, 11Alive, 8/27/21

• Democrats have filed a complaint against Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Herschel Walker. The complaint says Walker violated the law by spending money as a political candidate before filing required paperwork declaring his candidacy interest in the race.

• Federal law requires candidates to file paperwork with the Federal Election commission while “testing the water” of candidacy if they’re spending $5,000 or more. 

• Herschel Walker, a star football player at UGA in the 1980s, had hinted at his interest in the Senate race in Georgia multiple times over the summer. He told Fox News repeatedly he was considering it, and he tweeted a video saying he had “Georgia on my mind,” though his primary residence was in a suburb of Dallas, Texas. Former President Donald Trump also told a conservative radio host that Walker “told me he’s going to (run), and I think he will.”

• The complaint says Fox News reported July 7 that Walker “’has begun to build the beginnings of his campaign,’ reaching out to political advisers and aides.” Walker filed his statement of candidacy with the FEC August 24.

• The complaint speculates Walker spent more than the $5,000 allowed for an unannounced candidate prior to his official filing. It notes that he had hired staff and launched a website within a day of filing.

• It asks the FEC to investigate and, if Walker is found in violation, to fine him “the maximum amount permitted by law.”

• A spokeswoman for Walker did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

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