The campaign of Georgia Senate hopeful Herschel Walker is acknowledging that the Republican nominee has a second son in the wake of a report published Tuesday.
“Herschel had a child years ago when he wasn’t married. He’s supported the child and continues to do so. He’s proud of his children. To suggest that Herschel is ‘hiding’ the child because he hasn’t used him in his political campaign is offensive and absurd,” Scott Paradise, Walker’s campaign manager, said in a statement after the Daily Beast report.
The news outlet, citing a person close to the child’s family, public posts and a court document in which Walker is named the father of the child, reported that Walker, a critic of absentee fathers, appears to have an estranged relationship with his second son. The names of the son and his mother were withheld for privacy reasons, but the Daily Beast noted that one year after the child was born, Walker was sued by the mother in order to obtain child support and a paternity declaration.
Walker has previously been outspoken on the issue of absentee fathers, including in a 2021 interview with Diamond and Silk, the conservative social media personalities.
“If you have a child with a woman, even if you have to leave that woman, even if you have to leave that woman, you don’t leave the child,” Walker said during the interview. “You let that child know you trying to work it out. You’re going to be respectful to her.”
Paradise also accused Walker’s challenger, Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), of being involved in a “nasty mudslinging campaign.”
“Raphael Warnock is currently engaged in both a nasty mudslinging campaign and a nasty custody dispute with his ex-wife. He’s dodged voters by sealing the case and even has tried to dodge authorities,” he said. “This is a complete double standard.”
The Hill has reached out to Warnock’s campaign for comment.