Charles Walker

Charles Will Walker (November 8, 1947 – August 18, 2026) was an American politician who was a state senator in the legislature of Georgia. He was first elected in 1990. In 1996, he became Georgia's first African-American Senate Majority Leader. Walker was a Democrat and was from Augusta, Georgia.

Life and career Walker owned a myriad of small enterprises under the name The Walker Group. One of Walker's first ventures was a convenience store called "Reklaw's", which is Walker spelled backwards.

He started a newspaper called the Augusta Focus which served Augusta's black community. It often expressed opposing viewpoints to Augusta's only daily newspaper, the Augusta Chronicle.

Convicted in 2005 by a federal court in Augusta on charges including tax evasion, mail fraud, theft, misusing campaign funds, and conspiracy (127 counts, in all), Walker was serving a ten-year sentence at a Federal Correctional Institution in Estill, South Carolina. His projected release date was September 26, 2022.

An appeal of his convictions was rejected on July 6, 2007.

Walker filed a petition for habeas corpus in March 2009. The federal judge who presided over his trial recused himself from presiding over Walker's petition in May 2009.