CLAY: He is with us right now. Heisman Trophy winner, national champion George bulldog, NFL legend Herschel Walker — and soon to be, I believe, Senator from the state of Georgia — and I want to start with this question, Herschel. Stacey Abrams said Georgia was the worst state in the country to be living in. I’m just curious how you would respond to that suggestion.

WALKER: Well, it’s kind of insulting that you’re saying it’s the worst state to live and yet you made all your money here and also you also want to run for governor here. I think it’s sad that you’d tell the people and talk about the Georgians like that. I want everybody to know Georgia is one of the best place to live and there’s a lot of good people here and for her to make that statement is just making people emotional again, trying to get a vote and want to put the people down. But I think the people need to wake up from this nightmare and get back into the game and realize that Georgia is a great place to be, great people here, and we can do things right here in the state of Georgia.

BUCK: Hey, Herschel, it’s Buck. You know, we’re all assuming — today’s primary day but we’re assuming — you’re gonna be facing off against Senator Warnock. And I just want to know — ’cause you got a lot of listeners in the state of Georgia right now and people across the country are looking at Georgia as a real bellwether for how national politics are going — what do you want people to know about why you’re running against Warnock? What are you gonna do differently?

WALKER: Well, what I’m gonna do differently is represent the people that put me in office to represent them, because they seem to be representing themselves, when you got economy the way it is today and they seem to not want to fix it when yet it’s so simple. The first thing you can do is start drilling oil here right here in the United States of America and not let the dictators and buying oil from them.

You know, these are people that don’t like us, they don’t like you, they don’t like anybody. And at the same time get rid of some of these regulations that they’ve had on the people here and get some of these businesses that they’ve closed down reopened here in the United States of America and in Georgia, and quit buying things from these other places and then the next thing is start educating our kids.

We gotta get out of trying to teach our kids to hate themselves and ’cause their skin color. That’s why it’s totally appalled me that we’ve had some great leaders like Martin Luther King that always talked about it’s not the color of your skin but content of your character yet every elected official we see today is talking about the color of your skin, and then we got this border wide open. They see what’s going on but they don’t seem to want to talk about it, they don’t seem to want to change it. So that’s what set me apart from Senator Warnock. I care about this country, I care about the people, and I’m gonna fight for it.

CLAY: Herschel, I’m fired up, I should say, about the fact that the All-Star Game got pulled out of Atlanta. I know you’ve got an office near Truist Park there as well. Should Stacey Abrams, Major League Baseball, the Reverend Raphael Warnock — everyone who said the new baseball voting bill was gonna be the next Jim Crow 2.0 — should they all have to apologize given that voting is surging and it’s all clear what they said was a lie?

WALKER: Well, what’s funny about it, no one is ever gonna find out that they were lying because we don’t have the media that wants to point it out. Right now, they want to hide it but she’s saying it’s a terrible place to live. You see Stacey Abrams say that and then they pulled the game and took it to a place that had more strenuous border rights than Georgia — and yet they see that there’s been more people that vote in this election than voted a long time.

You know, they’ve said lies and lies and lies, and people have fell for it. But that’s the reason I decided to run. I’m tired of them putting the Georgia people down. I’m tired of this state being seen like it was second. This is a great place to live. We have good people here. I’m gonna stand up for those people. I’m gonna fight for those people.

That doesn’t care about the color of your skin. What I want to do, I want everybody to have that American dream like I’ve had. And we can have it in the United States of America, we can have it if we get rid of some of those people you’ve elected to office that seem to be weak that they’re worried about TV time. They’re not worried about, you know, representing the people.

BUCK: We’re speaking to former NFL superstar and current candidate for the Senate seat in Georgia — that will be up against Raphael Warnock — Herschel Walker. Herschel, a lot of people listening remember that obviously those two Senate seats were up right after the 2020 election, and it was disappointing that they went to Democrats and people point to election-integrity concerns and issues.

Clay already mentioned that voter turnout — and particularly African-American voter turnout in Georgia — is up, which is a good thing. It’s good to see that people are using their democratic process. But do you have confidence that the changes that would have been necessary or the safeguards that are necessary for voting in your home state of Georgia are in place?

WALKER: Well, I think things have gotten a little bit better. I think when Governor Kemp put in that SB-202 which got rid of some of those drop boxes that was all over every county everywhere and putting one drop box there and now you have to have matching IDs before you can send in an absentee ballot, I think that’s gonna matter a great deal. And I think people now are starting to get upset.

When you see the gas prices going up, you see all the things that are happening, people are getting involved. And they are tired of being called names, being called names. Like they can’t get an ID because they’re black? They’re like, “This is not right. “ I think what we’re doing right now is a shame what was doing to this country, the greatest country in the world where everybody in this country that has made good for themselves couldn’t have done it no other place. No other place on earth could they have done it except United States of America, but yet they put it down. Well, now it’s time for the Americans to stand up.

CLAY: Herschel, Vince Dooley introduced you, I think I saw, legendary Georgia football coach. What are you hearing? What was that experience like with him, and what are you hearing as you’ve traveled all over the state and met Georgians about their experience in the state and their experience in supporting you?

WALKER: You know, I’m hearing about them talking about me playing football, you know, playing football on a great team, winning a national championship, which I really, really enjoyed listening to ’em. And then they talk about me with some different things, things that are going on with the price of food, the price of gas. And they really feel that I can help ’em, they feel that I can help change things, and they know how I’m gonna fight.

So, I think that’s what’s making it easier for me to sit down with them and give them confidence because they seem to know the type of person I am. I’m not from no… I’m not from a silver spoon in my mouth. I was brought up in the country. I didn’t have much; my parents didn’t have much money. But, you know what? That didn’t matter. We knew how to work. We knew how to provide for each other by giving you what you need, not what you wanted.

And that’s what I think we have to do right now. Get people back to working, get people back to believing in each other, talking to each other and not fighting against each other all the time. And, you know, to have Coach Dooley introduce me, it almost bring tears to my eyes. And the reason why is when you have your teammates and you have coaches that stand behind you right now that say you’re gonna be a good senator in the United States of America, you’re gonna be a good senator for the state of Georgia, these people, they trust in you.

And, you know, they don’t take it lightly, ’cause Dooley don’t take anything lightly. He’s a ex-Marine. He’s a guy that has a lot of, lot of respect. We had a guy by the name of Steele, Colonel Steele, who talked about me as well that I played with. And, you know, it almost made me cry because it is… Those are teammates that I played with, that I sweated with, that were like my family members — and for them to stand up for me means a lot.

BUCK: Herschel Walker, everybody. You all know him. He’s running for Senate in Georgia. Herschel, when you win you gotta come back on and spike the football here on radio. What do you say?

WALKER: Hey, I’d love to come on. I want to thank you guys for bringing me on for me so I can get my message out and let the people know that I love this country and I’m gonna fight for it and I’m gonna fight for the people in Georgia as well.

BUCK: We’ll be talking to you, Herschel. Best of luck, and God bless. Thanks for being with us.

WALKER: Thank you, now. God bless.