Herschel Walker speaks at a campaign event on November 6, 2022 in Hiram, Georgia. (Photo by Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images)
ATHENS, Ga. - Former Republican Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker is heading back to school after his loss in the 2022 election to Democrat incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock.
A spokesperson for the University of Georgia confirmed to The Hill that Walker has re-enrolled as a student and is taking summer courses at the school.
Walker, a member of the College Football Hall of Fame, who helped lead Georgia to an undefeated season as a freshman in 1980, claimed during his campaign that he graduated from UGA with a bachelor's degree in criminal justice but later acknowledged that he left the university in his junior year to play in the U.S. Football League with the New Jersey Generals.
While his campaign website claimed he had graduated from the school, Walker told FOX 5's Russ Spencer that he never claimed to have graduated.
"I never have said that statement. Not one time. I’ve said that I studied criminal justice at UGA," he said.
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Walker stepped away from the spotlight after his loss in the Georgia Senate race helped secure Democrats a 51-49 majority.
The football legend was unable to overcome a bevy of damaging allegations, including claims that he paid for two former girlfriends’ abortions despite supporting a national ban on the procedure.
"The numbers look like they’re not going to add up," Walker, an ally and friend of former President Donald Trump, told supporters on election night at the College Football Hall of Fame in Downtown Atlanta. "There’s no excuses in life, and I’m not going to make any excuses now because we put up one heck of a fight."
About 1.9 million runoff votes were cast in Georgia by mail and during early voting. A robust Election Day turnout added about 1.4 million more, slightly more than the Election Day totals in November and in 2020.
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The Republican campaign also came under scrutiny after records showed it shelled out more than half a million dollars to a defunct car wash owned by a downer.
The car wash was ultimately dissolved in October after it failed to file the required registration information with state officials. However, Walker's campaign continued paying the business hundreds of thousands of dollars for "air charter" through December - more on private jet travel than any other campaign during the 2022 elections.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.