Herschel Walker has raised $3.7 million in his Senate campaign

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Herschel Walker raised $3.7 million during the first five weeks of his campaign to unseat Democratic incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock.

Contributions to the University of Georgia football great came from nearly 50,000 donors from all 50 states.

“Though we only had five weeks to fundraise this quarter, tens of thousands of Georgians and patriots across the country stepped up to the plate to help us take back the United States Senate,” Walker said.

“We are grateful for each and every cent and look forward to continuing to travel across this great state shaking hands with real Georgians and hearing about the issues facing their communities.”

Walker entered the race in late August at the urging of former President Donald Trump. The two have been friends since the 1980s, when the United States Football League team Trump owned, the New Jersey Generals, signed Walker to his first professional contract.

The other three Republican candidates for Senate – Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black; Latham Saddler, an Atlanta banking executive and former Navy SEAL officer; and Kelvin King, a small business owner and Air Force veteran from Atlanta, have yet to file fundraising reports for the third quarter.

Saddler reported in July that he had raised more than $1.4 million through the end of June, covering the first 10 weeks of his campaign.

At the same time, Black reported raising more than $703,000. However, that covered just three weeks because he entered the contest later than Saddler.

King raised nearly $680,000 during the third quarter, including a $300,000 loan he made to his campaign.

Warnock also has yet to report his third-quarter fundraising totals. However, the Democrat’s campaign got off to a strong start during the second quarter, raising $7 million in  April, May and June.

Third quarter fundraising reports to the Federal Election Commission are due to be filed by Friday.

This story available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.