Republican Senate hopeful Herschel Walker conceded his defeat over six months ago, but the office of the Georgia secretary of state is still investigating questions about if he was eligible to stand, The Daily Beast reported.
The question mark revolves around where he kept his home – candidates must be residents of the area if they're elected to represent it. Walker listed a home in Atlanta as his campaign address, but then disclosed in a financial disclosure statement that his family rented it out.
People familiar with the matter tell The Beast that the investigation, which was launched on Nov. 28, 2022 by the Georgia secretary of state, is still open. Speaking to The Beast, election law expert Anthony Michael Kreis said he was surprised that the investigation hasn't been closed yet.
“I was always skeptical of the idea that Herschel did anything unlawful in terms of the residency issue,” Kreis said. “Residency questions are typically really easy ones, and while this was politically sketchy, I always thought it was a non-issue as a legal matter, so I’m surprised that it would take this long to close the investigation.”
Questions about Walker's residency reemerged in late November when CNN reported that he took a homestead tax exemption he claimed in both 2021 and 2022 for his home in Texas, which is only available for a “principal residence."
Walker "had claimed the Texas exemption on the home since 2012. But all the while, he maintained one of the most recognized names in Georgia, as a University of Georgia football star in the early 1980s — even though he left school early in favor of a professional career in the U.S. Football League," The Beast's report stated.
“The key factor is whether the person moved to their primary residence with the intention to stay,” Kreis told The Beast.
Read the full report over at The Daily Beast.
