MACON, Ga. — Standing in front of an oversized American flag at a crime-themed campaign rally here Thursday, Herschel Walker said he wanted to acknowledge some “superheroes.” As the crowd applauded, seven sheriffs’ officials trooped onto the stage.
“I’m going to always support them,” Walker said and flashed what has become a recurring prop in the final weeks of Georgia’s U.S. Senate campaign — an honorary sheriffs’ deputy badge.
After being mocked for falsely claiming he was in law enforcement, Walker hasn’t backed down. Instead, he’s trying to use the badge and the ensuing controversy to showcase his support for and from police.
The man Walker wants to unseat, Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, said the Republican’s response demonstrates he isn’t a “serious” candidate and calls his honesty into question.
Warnock, and other critics, have noted that the back and forth over Walker’s badge ignores his messy history with law enforcement. Documents show Walker had past confrontations with police, including an incident in 2001 when he allegedly threatened a shootout with officers who responded to his Texas home for a domestic disturbance.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported in June that in at least three speeches before he entered the Senate race, Walker falsely claimed he worked in law enforcement. In one, he said he worked with Cobb County police, and in another he said he was an FBI agent. Walker responded by saying he had an honorary sheriff’s badge from the Cobb County sheriff. He never directly addressed the FBI agent claim.
Warnock raised those falsehoods at their recent debate in Savannah, saying it showed his GOP opponent wasn’t being honest.
“One thing that I haven’t done is I haven’t pretended to be a police officer and I’ve never, ever threatened a shootout with police,” Warnock said.
In response, Walker brandished an honorary deputy badge.
“It’s not a prop, it’s real,” Walker retorted.
He was admonished by the debate’s moderator for violating the debate’s rules against using props. But the moment immediately went viral.
Since then, Walker has only doubled down. Asked about the badge in an interview with NBC earlier this week, Walker pulled it obligingly from his suit jacket pocket and displayed it for the camera.
“That’s a badge that I was given by a police officer, and I carry it with me all the time,” he said. “It’s a real badge. It’s not a fake badge.”
The badge came from Johnson County Sherriff Greg Rowland; Walker grew up in the county seat of Wrightsville.
“If Herschel’s badge is a prop, then I guess this badge I wear every day to protect the citizens, I guess it’s a prop also,” Rowland said in a video he recorded with Walker, which was posted on Twitter.
“But these are real badges and I gave this to my friend for all he’s done for this country and this county,” Rowland continued. Rowland did not immediately return a phone call from the Journal-Constitution seeking comment.
The issue has grown so viral that a Stephen Colbert-produced parody news show on Comedy Central prank-called Walker pretending to “report a crime.”
“Is there any chance you could hop in the squad car, you know, flick on the siren, come down here, maybe go undercover or something?” the animated news anchor — voiced by comedian R.J. Fried — said when he reached the real Senate candidate on the line.
The badge is real — a real honorary deputy badge. That doesn’t give Walker any law enforcement powers, experts said.
“It really doesn’t mean anything, except you have a star,” said Terry Norris, executive director of the Georgia Sheriffs’ Association, who said he’s been fielding calls on the matter ever since Walker first flashed the badge on the debate stage in Savannah.
To be a sheriff’s deputy with powers of arrest in Georgia, someone must have completed 14 weeks of training through the Peace Officers Standards and Training Council. Even reserve deputies, who may be called up to assist with things such as crowd control, typically have POST training.
Walker has never claimed to have received POST training, and there are no records suggesting he had.
He has, over the years, worked with various law enforcement agencies, including Cobb County, where former Sheriff Neil Warren said Walker led mental health sessions for officers. Cobb also gave Walker an honorary badge.
Walker’s campaign points to endorsements from a number of sheriffs in the state as proof of his strong support from the law enforcement community. On the trail, Walker nearly always mentions his unwavering support for police.
“It’s the toughest time in the United States of America to be in law enforcement today,” he said Thursday in Macon.
Walker is so invested in the badge theme that his campaign reportedly purchased 1,000 imitation plastic law enforcement badges as a fundraising tool. None were seen at Thursday’s event.
For Warnock, Walker is only reinforcing the idea that the Republican isn’t prepared for the Senate.
“My opponent, Herschel Walker, is not ready,” Warnock told reporters Monday. “I pointed out the fact that he claimed to be in law enforcement — to be a police officer — and that he threatened a shootout with the police. And his response was to produce a fake badge? The people of Georgia deserve a serious person to represent them in serious times.”
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