Herschel Walker campaign deletes a false claim saying the Republican candidate for Senate graduated from college

By Rachel Janfaza, CNN

Herschel Walker’s campaign for Senate removed a false claim — which inaccurately said the Republican candidate graduated from the University of Georgia — from a website for his Senate bid, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported.

Walker’s campaign deleted the claim, which said that the former football star had “graduated from UGA with a Bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice,” after the Atlanta-based paper asked about the reference Thursday, according to the AJC.

Walker — a Republican frontrunner in the race for Georgia Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock’s seat who has racked up high-profile endorsements from both former President Donald Trump and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell — released a statement to the AJC on his college trajectory.

“I was majoring in Criminal Justice at UGA when I left to play in the USFL my junior year,” Walker told the AJC, referencing the football league. “After playing with the New Jersey Generals, I returned to Athens to complete my degree, but life and football got in the way.”

The inaccurate claim that Walker completed a degree in criminal justice has been made before, including on his Amazon author page, his booking agency site and the New Georgia Encyclopedia website.

Walker, who is a Heisman trophy winner and owns a food service company, has also been introduced as having earned a degree at a campaign rally, as well as during a US congressional hearing on reparations, and both times, the Republican candidate did not correct the mistake, the AJC reports.

In his statement to the AJC, Walker said he has advocated that other athletes finish their time in college.

“Thankfully, God opened doors which allowed me to have some great opportunities and to provide for my family,” he told the paper.

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