NEW: Georgia Republican Senate Candidates Take Aim at Walker’s Texas Residency

The GOP infighting in Georgia’s U.S. Senate primary continues to escalate as Republicans in Georgia and Washington coordinate their attacks against Trump’s close friend and hand-picked candidate Herschel Walker — taking aim at his inflated business claims, his voting history, and now his Texas taxes. 

A new report from Atlanta’s 11Alive investigative team details the tax exemptions Walker would need to give up on his $2.8 million Texas mansion should he relocate for a Georgia Senate run — and highlights the latest attempt by Georgia Republicans trying to sideline the former president’s personal ally with negative stories.

WATCH HERE

Last week, several Republican Senators publicly weighed in for and against Walker with comments that raised eyebrows and revealed the panic within the Republican Party about the state of Georgia’s primary. Walker remains unmoved by the GOP criticism and is “acting like he’s in the driver’s seat.” As the Atlanta Journal-Constitution wrote last week, these efforts are unlikely to have the outcome some want: “These sorts of reports exposing more details about [Walker’s] background aren’t likely to factor into his decision.” 

Herschel Walker Lives in Texas, Could Possibly Run as Georgia Senate Candidate

11Alive, Doug Richards, 8/3/21

TRANSCRIPT:

• Less than a year out from Georgia’s U.S. Senate primary and Republican voters still have no clear options right now.

• Herschel Walker is considering a bid for the seat, but according to documents, he has lived in the same house near Dallas, TX for the last decade.

• Walker’s place of residency wouldn’t be a headline if wasn’t considering running for the Senate seat in Georgia.

• President Trump has tapped the former UGA football star as his top pick to take on Senator Reverend Warnock next year.

• The rules of residency for Senators and members of Congress are actually pretty slippery, which opens the door to questions about Herschel Walker’s residency and what will change if he actually moves from Texas to Georgia to run for the U.S. Senate.

• “I’m a product of the state of Georgia,” Walker told Fox News in late July, referring to his childhood home and the state in which he won a Heisman Trophy as a college football player.

• Tax records show Walker has lived in a gated community northwest of Dallas for 10 years – in a house reportedly with a five-car garage now valued at $2.8 million. 

• Records also show that Walker has taken a homestead exemption there – which is a tax break homeowners can get at their primary residence.

• To get the break, “it must be a principal residence,” said Dr. Roy Black, who teaches property law at Emory University. “You can only have one principal residence. Second, third homes don’t count” for the homestead exemption tax break.

• If he runs for the GOP nomination, Walker may need to make a decision about where his home will be.  The U.S. Constitution only requires a U.S. Senator “when elected (to) be an inhabitant of that state.”  

• The vague language could allow Walker to “inhabit” Georgia while still claiming his valuable homestead exemption in Texas.

• “You have to pick what is your primary residence,” Dr. Roy Black said. “Claiming that Georgia is your principal residence would be a lie if it actually wasn’t. It would be a tax dodge.”

• And it would give the former UGA star a decision — whether to keep his tax exemption on his home in Texas while running for the U.S. Senate in Georgia.

• A spokesman for Republican Gary Black, who is running for the Senate seat Walker is considering, told us, “Even in his playing days, Herschel couldn’t run back and forth between Texas and Georgia – paying taxes in one state but trying to represent another. If he moves here and starts paying taxes here, we look forward to seeing what ideas he brings to the table.”

• We have tried to reach Herschel Walker repeatedly and have been unable to do so. But he keeps telling his friends on Fox News that he will make his decision about running in Georgia when he’s ready, and not before.

• You know Doug, I’ve been here for so long, and this has really less to do with politics than with the celebrity of Herschel Walker. To hear and see people attacking Herschel Walker in our state, very aggressively, is eye-opening to me. He has been the sports equivalent of the Dalai Lama for decades. He has been, you know, treated with very, very great reverence, and all of a sudden to see something different like that in the state really gets your attention. It’s beyond politics — it’s the culture of Herschel Walker in Georgia.

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