ATLANTA — U.S. Senate hopeful Herschel Walker has a taste for racy adult sites on the internet, according to a review of Walker's Instagram page by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Walker was a football player and celebrity before he decided to try his hand at politics. His Instagram choices appear to reflect his interests before he became a candidate.
Walker wouldn’t be the first to make some questionable choices on social media. With 85,000 followers, his purported Instagram page – therealherschel34 – mostly shows personal photos. One shows Walker with Donald Trump, Walker’s longtime friend and the man who talked him into running for the US Senate in Georgia.
But, the AJC found the Walker Instagram page following a site that appears linked to a hardcore adult movie production company. 11Alive found Walker's Instagram connection to the site was still active Monday afternoon.
And some of Walker’s political enemies have been discreetly showing his Instagram page following sites rife with scantily clad women.
"I think it’s sad. I think it’s tragic for the state. I don’t think that’s representative of what Georgians want in their leadership," said Gary Black, the GOP state agriculture commissioner also running for the US Senate, in an interview Tuesday.
Whichever republican wins would take on incumbent Democrat Raphael Warnock.
Of Walker’s Instagram choices, Walker’s campaign manager said in a statement: “This is stupid. He follows or is followed by tens of thousands of people.”
But, will it sour Republican voters? It's not likely, says political scientist Andra Gillespie of Emory University.
"The fact that Herschel Walker is very well known, and the fact that he has the endorsement of Donald Trump matters a lot to voters in this state," Gillespie said. "So I don’t see much changing his status as the frontrunner right now, even with this revelation."
Herschel Walker and GOP state agriculture commissioner Gary Black will face off in the U.S. Senate Republican Primary on May 24, 2022.