GOP Georgia Senate nominee Herschel Walker reveals more children

Georgia’s Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate, Herschel Walker, confirmed Thursday that he has two more previously unknown children, bringing the total number of kids he hadn’t publicly acknowledged to three.

Walker’s disclosure is the second time this week that the former star professional football player, who has been repeatedly publicly critical of African-American absentee fathers, has been forced to admit he had children out of wedlock after media reports of their existence.

Until earlier this week, Walker, whose candidacy to unseat Democratic incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock, has been heavily backed by former President Donald Trump, had only publicly mentioned his 22-year-old son Christian Walker.

On Tuesday, The Daily Beast revealed Walker had a “secret” 10-year-old son he hasn’t played an active role in raising.

On Thursday morning, The Daily Beast revealed had another son, who is 13 years old now, out of wedlock. In the same article, the outlet also reported Walker has a now-adult daughter that he had when he was about 20 years old, and when he was star running back on the University of Georgia football team.

Walker’s campaign told CNBC on Thursday that the ages of the children as reported by The Daily Beast were correct.

In a statement released by his campaign Thursday, he claimed he had not told voters about his other children because it would expose them to unwanted attention during a political race. The campaign did not respond to CNBC’s question asking how many women had children by Walker.

“I have four children. Three sons and a daughter,” Walker said in the statement.

“They’re not ‘undisclosed’ — they’re my kids. I support them all and love them all. I’ve never denied my children, I confirmed this when I was appointed to the President’s Council on Sports Fitness and Nutrition,” he said.

Walker added, “I just chose not to use them as props to win a political campaign. What parent would want their child involved in garbage, gutter politics like this?”

“Saying I hide my children because I don’t discuss them with reporters to win a campaign? That’s outrageous. I can take the heat, that’s politics — but leave my kids alone,” Walker said.

It is highly unusual, but not unheard of, for U.S. political candidates not to identify the children they have when running for office.

In a 2020 interview, Walker, who is Black, said “I want to apologize to the African-American community because the fatherless home is a major, major problem.”

Months earlier, in another interview, Walker had said men need to become “fathers of those fatherless” children in neighborhoods with kids whose dads were not present in their lives.

The disclosures about Walker’s heretofore unknown kids come as he continues to be criticized for…