Herschel Walker is running for U.S. Senate

In this image from video, Herschel Walker speaks from Westlake, Texas, during the first night of the Republican National Convention Monday, Aug. 24, 2020.(Courtesy of the Committee on Arrangements for the 2020 Republican National Committee via AP)

Former Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker filed documents to run for the United States Senate in Georgia on Tuesday.

Federal Election Commission documents show that Walker, 59, is set to run as a Republican to unseat Democrat Senator Raphael Warnock in 2022.

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Walker has been a personal friend of former President Donald Trump for decades and spoke glowingly about him at the Republican National Convention last year. 

Trump has publicly urged Walker to run for the Senate seat. In March, the former president said that the former football star would be “unstoppable” if he chose to run.

“Wouldn’t it be great if the legendary Herschel Walker ran for the United States Senate in Georgia?” Trump said. “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!” 

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Walker is expected to make an official announcement in coming days but he tweeted a video earlier this year fueling speculation that he was jumping in the race. 

“I’m getting ready,” he said in the video titled, “Georgia on my mind.” “And we can run with the big dogs.” 

Walker becomes the most prominent candidate to launch a bid for the GOP Senate nomination in Georgia. Among the others running are state Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black, who declared his candidacy earlier this summer, and two military veterans who are not as well-known, Kelvin King and Latham Saddler, who launched Republican Senate campaigns earlier this year.

Former Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who narrowly lost to Warnock in one of the two Jan. 5 Senate runoff elections in Georgia, is mulling a run. Loeffler told Fox News in June that “I have not ruled anything out.” Former Sen. David Perdue, who narrowly lost to now Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff in Georgia’s other runoff election in January, earlier this year said he was passing on making a 2022 bid to return to the Senate.

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Walker is widely considered one of the greatest college football players of all time, having amassed over 5,200 rushing yards and over 50 touchdowns during his three-year stint as a running back at the University of Georgia. Walker won the Heisman Trophy in 1982 and a national championship in 1980.

Walker then played in the NFL and USFL for several years where he rushed for over 8,200 yards and 61 touchdowns and was named to the Pro Bowl twice.

Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report