Gov. Brian Kemp campaigning for Herschel Walker in metro Atlanta

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - UGA football legend Herschel Walker is bringing in Georgia’s most influential Republican to help him in his Dec. 6 U.S. Senate runoff against Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock.

Gov. Brian Kemp, fresh off his solid re-election victory last week over Democrat Stacey Abrams, will appear with Walker on Saturday at 10:30 at Adventure Outdoors in Cobb County, one of the Georgia’s largest gun stores.

Walker and Warnock are headed to a runoff after neither won enough of a majority to win the Nov. 8 election outright. Early voting begins Nov. 28 in the runoff, a race that will either strengthen Democrats’ Senate majority or evenly split the body 50-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting a deciding vote.

Millions of dollars in campaign spending and big political names are already pouring into Georgia. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) appeared with Walker last week at a Canton brewery.

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On Tuesday, former President Donald Trump announced his entry in the 2024 presidential race, and specifically mentioned Walker in his announcement. Trump has previously endorsed Walker and appeared with the first-time candidate at a rally in middle Georgia last year.

Kemp’s campaign organization is widely credited with helping orchestrate another complete GOP sweep of every statewide constitutional office in the 2022 midterms.

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Warnock won his current seat in a January 2021 runoff against Kelly Loeffler, who had been appointed by Kemp to fill the unexpired term of Johnny Isakson, who had resigned due to health reasons. Warnock’s win, along with Jon Ossoff’s ouster of then-incumbent David Perdue, gave Georgia two Democratic U.S. senators for the first time in decades.