WASHINGTON — Herschel Walker, the former Dallas Cowboys star now running as a Trump-backed Republican for a U.S. Senate seat in Georgia, cancelled a fundraiser he’d planned with a North Texas conservative film producer who, until Wednesday, used an image of syringes arranged in the form of a swastika as her Twitter profile picture.
According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Walker’s campaign said in a statement that the event, set to be held at the Parker, Texas home of Bettina Sofia Viviano-Langlais, had been “called off.” The campaign had at first contended that the symbol wasn’t a swastika, just a sign of opposition to vaccine requirements.
Viviano-Langlais had long featured the image of the Nazi symbol as her Twitter profile picture, which some in Texas have used to signal their opposition to vaccine mandates, the Journal-Constitution reported. The graphic is no longer her profile picture.
Walker’s campaign denounced Viviano-Langlais’ usage of the symbol.
“Despite the fact that the apparent intent behind the graphic was to condemn government vaccine mandates,” the campaign said, “the symbol used is very offensive and does not reflect the values of Herschel Walker or his campaign.”
Democrats were quick to condemn the former running back for the Cowboys and the University of Georgia, where he won the Heisman Trophy, for not distancing himself from Viviano-Langlais sooner, and for initially defending the image.
“Herschel Walker defended a swastika, and canceling a fundraiser does not change the fact that he failed to condemn a hateful, anti-Semitic symbol,” Democratic Party of Georgia spokesman Dan Gottlieb said in a statement Wednesday.
“Absolutely vile — Republicans are proudly and openly displaying swastikas,” The Jewish Democratic Council of America wrote on Twitter. “The @GOP uses antisemitism and bigotry as a political tactic, and it’s a direct threat to our community, security and values.”
Walker filed to run for senator in Georgia in August, joining other Republicans seeking to unseat Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock in 2022. Walker, 59, still lives in Texas, outside Dallas, and he can continue to do so while campaigning but must officially move to Georgia by election time next year. According to CNN, Walker is the favorite to secure the Republican nomination.
He also carries an important endorsement from longtime friend Donald Trump, the former president who gave Walker his “Complete and Total Endorsement” in September.
“Herschel Walker is a friend, a patriot, and an outstanding American who is going to be a GREAT United States senator,” Trump said in a statement. “He embodies ‘America First’ and the winning spirit of Georgia.”
Though Walker has never run for office and will likely face criticism over his turbulent past — including accusations that Walker repeatedly threatened his ex-wife’s life, exaggerated claims about private-sector success and displayed erratic behavior that disturbed his business allies — he comes into the Senate race with coveted name recognition. Walker played for several professional football teams, including the Cowboys and Trump’s New Jersey Generals.
According to the Journal-Constitution, Walker is off to a big fundraising head start: he raised $3.7 million dollars in his first five weeks of campaigning. Walker has opposed vaccine mandates, and has supported Trump’s unproven assertions that the former president was cheated out of reelection.
