Senate confirms Herschel Walker as U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas

The former NFL player, who unsuccessfully ran for Senate in 2022, will be the first ambassador to the Bahamas in nearly 15 years.

WASHINGTON — The Senate on Tuesday confirmed Herschel Walker as U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas.

Walker, a staunch ally of President Donald Trump who unsuccessfully ran for a Senate seat in Georgia three years ago, was confirmed along with more than 100 other nominees in a 51-47 vote that fell along party lines.

Walker will be the first U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas in nearly 15 years. The U.S. Embassy there has been led by a series of chargés d’affaires since 2011.

Walker is a former NFL player who played with Dallas, Minnesota, Philadelphia and the New York Giants. He won the Heisman Trophy at the University of Georgia.

He lost his Senate campaign in 2022 to Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock in a runoff. Walker’s campaign was marked by turbulence and scandal, including financial troubles, micromanaging and questions about his past that he struggled to address. Weeks before the election, a report revealed that Walker, who ran on an anti-abortion platform, had paid for an abortion in 2009.