Beyond the campaign ads: Learn about the Georgia candidates running for Senate

Prior to his election, Georgia's incumbent U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock had a prominent profile before as the senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. But his Republican challenger, Herschel Walker, is even more well known as the former star running back for the University of Georgia.

Beyond the historic pulpit and the Heisman trophy, though, there is more to know about the two major party candidates for Senate. Libertarian Chase Oliver has also registered to run.

Sen. Raphael Warnock, Democrat

Raphael Warnock was born in Savannah in 1969. On his campaign website he talks about growing up in Kayton Homes public housing along with 11 siblings. His parents were both Pentecostal preachers and his father also worked on cars.

Warnock graduated from Sol C. Johnson High School in Savannah in 1987 before attending Morehouse College, where he received a bachelors in psychology.

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Afterwards he attended Union Theological Seminary in New York City for a Master of Divinity, Master of Philosophy and PhD. While in graduate school, he studied under the renowned Rev. Dr. James H. Cone, and he worked as an assistant pastor at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York. In 2005 Warnock became the senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, the same church that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his father pastored.

In Atlanta he gained a reputation as an activist, especially around the issue of expanded Medicaid. In 2015, Atlanta Magazine named him one of the the city's 55 most powerful people, citing a protest he helped lead the year prior at the state capitol to call for Medicaid expansion. Warnock was one of 39 people arrested during the protest.

In 2016, Warnock married Ouleye Ndoye, the couple separated in 2019 and filed for divorce the following year. In 2020, Ndoye accused Warnock of driving over her foot following a dispute. Warnock has denied it and police reports indicated no injury to her foot. In 2022, Ndoye filed for additional custody rights and child support for the couple's two children.

Herschel Walker, Republican

Herschel Walker was born in 1962 and raised in Wrightsville, Georgia, before attending Johnson County High School. On his campaign website, Walker recounts his sporting achievements in high school track and football.

Walker famously played football for the University of Georgia. The Bulldogs won a national title in his freshman year in 1980 and Walker himself won the Heisman Trophy in 1982. Walker left after his junior year for a 15-year career in professional football before retiring in 1997.

Walker also participated in other sports. In 1992, while playing for the Vikings, he tried out for and won a spot on the U.S. Olympic bobsled team. In 2010 and 2011, he competed in two mixed martial arts matches, winning both through technical knockouts.

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Since retiring from football, Walker has also been involved in several business ventures, including H. Walker Enterprises — an umbrella organization of businesses, the largest of which is Renaissance Man Food Services, started in 2000. According to multiple reports, Walker has also exaggerated the success of some of these business ventures, including claiming to own a business he was only somewhat affiliated with.

Walker was previously married to Cindy Grossman. She filed for divorce in 2001, the same year Walker was diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder. In a 2008 book, Walker said the disease had sometimes made him violent, and Grossman has said he threatened her with violence on several occasions.

Walker is currently married to Julie Blanchard. He had a son, Christian Walker, with Grossman, and earlier this year acknowledged he had three other children, a 10-year-old son, a 13-year-old son, and an adult daughter.

Chase Oliver, Libertarian

Oliver first ran for office in 2020 to finish out former Rep. John Lewis' congressional term, looking to be the first LGBTQ candidate elected to Congress for Georgia.

In an interview with Project Q at the time, he said he began as a supporter of Barack Obama in 2008 as an anti-war voter. He was also the chair of the Libertarian party in Atlanta.

Oliver said at the time he worked in the shipping industry, tracking containers, and before that worked in the service industry.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: A look at Georgia senate candidates Warnock, Walker and Oliver