A CNN report found that Herschel Walker—a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in Georgia—repeatedly made false statements when he said he graduated in the top 1 percent of his class at the University of Georgia, including as recently as 2017. In fact, Walker never graduated from the university, and when he attended, he maintained a “B” average while he played football. The report also included excerpts from Walker’s high school yearbooks and newspaper articles written about him at the time, none of which name him as valedictorian, as he’s claimed to be (though they did note his recognition as an honors candidate during his high school graduation). Walker’s campaign blasted the report in statements to CNN, first arguing that no voter would care about whether the distinction (or lack thereof) “has any bearing on his ability to be a great United States Senator” and then blasting the questions themselves. “Multiple reporters wrote about this 40 years ago. If you have a problem with what they wrote, please contact them. If you have a difficult time getting in touch with them, ask yourself why you are asking such a stupid question,” Walker’s campaign manager said.
