STATESBORO — Herschel Walker said Georgians need a senator who will represent them and not the Washington establishment.

Walker, the former college and professional football star, is challenging incumbent Democrat Rev. Raphael Warnock for a U.S. Senate seat and brought his campaign to Statesboro last Friday.

In an exclusive one-on- one interview, Walker discussed his campaign with the Courier and correspondent Lewis Levine.

Walker, who easily won the Republican nomination back in the May general primary, had been trailing Warnock, a Democrat who also holds the same pulpit the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. did at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, in the polls.

But since their first and only debate October 14, Walker has been gaining on Warnock. Now, less than a week away before voters head to their precinct polls to cast ballots, some pollsters have Walker in the lead.

If he is elected, Walker said Georgians can expect “a senator that is going to represent them and not go to Washington and represent the Washington elite or represent Joe Biden.”

“One of the first things I did when I first got into the campaign is started going out to meet the voters and listening to them,” he said. “They were talking about crime, they were talking about the economy, they were talking about the border.”

Walker has been adamantly opposed to defund the police movements and said federal and state governments need to help law enforcement.

“We need to address how we can get the police morale back up,” he said. “We cannot continue to make our police officers demons and our criminals heroes. That’s not how we need to live.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) was caught on a microphone telling President Joe Biden that the Democrats are in trouble in the Georgia Senate race, and Schumer added he didn’t see how people in Georgia could vote for Walker.

Walker dismissed Schumer’s comments but lambasted him for the nation’s current economic woes. While unemployment is at a record low, inflation remains at more than 8% and many economists are predicting a recession in the near future.

“Right now, he’s the reason we’re in this mess, because of his policies,” Walker said.

A political newcomer, Walker said people should not have been surprised at his performance in the debate against Sen. Warnock.

“Everybody said ‘he’s going to fumble the ball,’” Walker said. “Did they really think Sen. Warnock was going to beat me in a debate? They know what I’m going to bring to the table and I’ve always, always done that.”

Walker has faced charges of paying for abortions for two women and of terrorizing an ex-wife.

“I’ve been transparent. I’ve been transparent my whole life,” he said. “You look at the politicians who have represented them and look at two short years where you’re at. They’ve done this in two short years. If we give them six more years, I don’t think we can recover from it.”

Neither is Walker interested in what the media and pundits have to say about him or his candidacy.

“I don’t read the papers,” he said. “Being an athlete, I’ve had people write about me all the time. So I don’t care what the Washington Examiner, the Washington Post, anyone says about me. What I worry about is what the people of Georgia say about me. What the people of Georgia are saying about me is I’m going to be the next senator. And I hope people saw that during the debate.”

Walker also said he has been pro-life his entire life, citing his Christian beliefs and having grown up in the church. His mother Christine was a pastor, he added.

“My views haven’t evolved over the years,” he said. “I said it was a lie. I’m not a part of that lie they want to make. I believe in life. I have believed in life my whole life. I’ve been a Christian my whole life. I’ve failed many times. I am a sinner. But by grace of God, I get up and keep going forward.”

Walker also would not address Sen. Warnock’s custody dispute with his ex-wife.

“We’re going to talk about him as a senator. He hasn’t done a very good job,” Walker charged.

Walker said he is willing to put in the work to be an effective senator and said he wants to try to unite Georgians rather than divide them.

“You got to get in and work. If you want to be good at it, you have to get in it,” he said. “You can’t sit on the sidelines and complain. I have hired a very good team to work with me. And I started getting out and listening to the voters. I think that’s one of the most important things — listening to the voters.

“The left will say and do anything for power,” Walker added. “Well, not on my watch. We need to secure this border. We need to continue to have energy independence again. We need to get back to things this country was built on. They try to separate people to get a vote. I’m not about that. I’m about uniting people. A house divided will not stand.”